Austroperlidae Explained

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.^[1] 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.^[2] The warning colouration of this species is mimicked by several lineages of the unrelated non-toxic New Zealand stonefly Zelandoperla.^[3]

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

Further reading

• The stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Rocky Mountains [USA]]. 1977. Baumann. Richard W.. Gaufin. Arden R.. Surdick. Rebecca F.. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society. 31. 2019-05-24. 2019-04-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20190417230232/http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US19780325716. dead.
• Book: Mayflies and Stoneflies: Life Histories and Biology. 1990. Campbell . Ian C.. Springer. 978-94-010-7579-4. 10.1007/978-94-009-2397-3. 39201439.
• Ohio USA stoneflies (Insecta, Plecoptera): species richness estimation, distribution of functional niche traits, drainage affiliations, and relationships to other states. 2012. DeWalt . R.. Cao . Y.. Tweddale . T.. Grubbs . S.. Hinz . L.. Pessino . M.. Robinson . J.. 4. ZooKeys. 178. 1–26. 1313-2989. 10.3897/zookeys.178.2616. 3317619. 22539876. free.
• Biology of plecoptera. 1976. Hynes . H. B. N.. Annual Review of Entomology. 21. 135–153. 10.1146/annurev.en.21.010176.001031.
• Book: Nymphs of North American stonefly genera (Plecoptera). 1988. Stewart . Kenneth W.. Stark . Bill P.. Entomological Society of America. 978-0929398556.

Notes and References

1. Foster . Brodie . McCulloch . Graham . Waters . Jonathan . Evidence for aposematism in a southern hemisphere stonefly family (Plecoptera: Austroperlidae) . Austral Entomology . 2021 . 60 . 267-275 . 10.1111/aen.12529.
2. McLellan . Ian . Austroperla cyrene Newman (Plecoptera: Austroperlidae) . Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand . 1997 . 27 . 271-278 . 10.1080/03014223.1997.9517538.
3. Foster . Brodie . McCulloch . Graham . Foster . Yasmin . Kroos . Gracie . King . Tania . Waters . Jonathan . ebony underpins Batesian mimicry in melanic stoneflies . Molecular Ecology . 2023 . 32 . 4986-4998 . 10.1111/mec.17085. free .