Austroperlidae
Sign in to saveAustroperlidae is a family of stoneflies in the order Plecoptera. There are about 10 genera and 15 described species in Austroperlidae across southern land masses Australia, New Zealand, and South America.Austroperlidae species are unique among stoneflies in having aposematic (warning) colouration. For instance, the New Zealand black stonefly Austroperla is a forest dwelling shredder that is toxic to predators due to its production of hydrogen cyanide. The warning colouration of this species is mimicked by several lineages of the unrelated non-toxic New Zealand stonefly Zelandoperla.
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 169
- Family
- Austroperlidae
- Collections
- TMAG, AM
- Recorded in
- Australia
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- Genera
- References
- Further reading
Austroperlidae is a family of stoneflies in the order Plecoptera. There are about 10 genera and 15 described species in Austroperlidae across southern land masses Australia, New Zealand, and South America.Austroperlidae species are unique among stoneflies in having aposematic (warning) colouration. For instance, the New Zealand black stonefly Austroperla is a forest dwelling shredder that is toxic to predators due to its production of hydrogen cyanide. The warning colouration of this species is mimicked by several lineages of the unrelated non-toxic New Zealand stonefly Zelandoperla.
==Genera== These 10 genera belong to the family Austroperlidae: Acruroperla Illies, 1969 Andesobius McLellan, 2001 Austroheptura Illies, 1969 Austropentura Illies, 1969 Austroperla Needham, 1905 Crypturoperla Illies, 1969 Klapopteryx Navás, 1928 Penturoperla Illies, 1960 Pseudoheptura Riek, 1973 Tasmanoperla Tillyard, 1921
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Austroperlidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.