Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günther Theischinger ◽  
John Hawking ◽  
Albert Orr

Dragonflies and damselflies are conspicuous insects: many are large and brightly coloured. They are also valuable indicators of environmental wellbeing. A detailed knowledge of the dragonfly fauna is therefore an important basis for decisions about environmental protection and management. This comprehensive guide to the Australian dragonfly fauna covers eight families of dragonflies and 10 families of damselflies, comprising the 113 genera and 333 species found in Australia. It has been updated with newly identified species and revised family names to reflect new world consensus systematics. Stunning full-colour images and distribution maps are accompanied by identification keys for adults as well as larvae, which are often used as bait for freshwater fish. This second edition of The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia also includes illustrations by Albert Orr, one of the most renowned dragonfly illustrators. The extraordinary diversity of dragonflies will interest entomologists and amateur naturalists alike.

Author(s):  
Gunther Theischinger ◽  
John Hawking

Dragonflies and damselflies are conspicuous insects – many are large and brightly coloured. Here for the first time is a comprehensive guide to the Australian dragonfly fauna. The book includes identification keys not only for adults but also for their larvae, commonly known as ‘mud eyes’ and often used as bait for freshwater fish. With stunning full-colour images and distribution maps, the book covers all 30 families, 110 genera and 324 species found in Australia. Dragonflies are valuable indicators of environmental well-being. A detailed knowledge of the dragonfly fauna and its changes is therefore an important basis for decisions about environmental protection and management. Their extraordinary diversity will interest entomologists and amateur naturalists alike.


Author(s):  
Paul D Brock ◽  
Jack W Hasenpusch

Australia has a rich diversity of phasmids – otherwise known as stick and leaf insects. Most of them are endemic, few have been studied and new species continue to be found. Stick insects are, by far, Australia’s longest insects – some of them reach up to 300 mm in body length, or more than half a metre if you include their outstretched legs. Many stick insects are very colourful, and some have quite elaborate, defensive behaviour. Increasingly they are being kept as pets. This is the first book on Australian phasmids for nearly 200 years and covers all known stick and leaf insects. It includes photographs of all species, notes on their ecology and biology as well as identification keys suitable for novices or professionals.


2018 ◽  
Vol 150 (5) ◽  
pp. 539-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D.G. Darling ◽  
François Génier

AbstractCopris incertus Say, 1835 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Coprini) has been described as a New World coprophagous scarab distributed from Mexico to Ecuador with large discontinuities in its range between the Yucatán province and Costa Rica. The C. incertus species complex of the Copris minutus (Drury, 1773) species group consists of C. incertus, Copris laeviceps Harold, 1869, and Copris lugubris Boheman, 1858. Based on external morphology and male genitalia, we discovered that multiple species have been classified as C. incertus. Of these species, five are new: Copris amazonicusnew species, Copris brevicornisnew species, Copris davidinew species, Copris moroninew species, and Copris susanaenew species. Herein, we revise the organisation of the C. incertus species complex and propose a new species complex, the C. laeviceps species complex, which includes: C. davidi, Copris igualensis Warner, 1990, and C. laeviceps, formerly included in the C. incertus species complex. We provide an identification key along with species distribution maps, images of habitus, and diagnostic characters.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5026 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-479
Author(s):  
ROBB BENNETT ◽  
CLAUDIA COPLEY ◽  
DARREN COPLEY

Species of North American Cybaeus L. Koch (Araneae: RTA clade: Cybaeidae) are moist-forest spiders classified in Holarctic and Californian clades. Here, in the fourth paper in a planned series reviewing the six Californian clade species groups, we review the species of the devius and tardatus groups. We recognize five species in the devius group (Cybaeus bilectus Bennett spec. nov., C. bryoncavus Bennett spec. nov., C. devius Chamberlin & Ivie, C. echo Bennett spec. nov., and C. wilsonia Bennett spec. nov.) and four in the tardatus group (C. orarius Bennett spec. nov., C. piazzai Bennett spec. nov., C. tardatus Chamberlin, and C. topanga Bennett spec. nov.). All of these species are rarely encountered and have restricted distributions either in the central and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California, U.S.A (devius group) or the southern coast of western California (tardatus group). Some of these species are likely endangered or already extinct; most have not been seen in many decades and none have been collected more recently than 1995. Descriptions, illustrations, distribution maps, and identification keys are provided as well as a discussion of conservation issues of relevance to the group.  


Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4821 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-249
Author(s):  
NATALIA LADINO ◽  
RODRIGO M. FEITOSA

The ant genus Prionopelta Mayr, 1866 is revised for the Neotropics. Morphological traits combined with geographical data led to the recognition of eight species, four of them described here as new: Prionopelta dubia sp. n., Prionopelta menininha sp. n., Prionopelta minuta sp. n., and Prionopelta tapatia sp. n. Prionopelta marthae Forel, 1909 is proposed as a new junior synonym of Prionopelta antillana Forel, 1909. External morphological descriptions of the worker caste for all species are provided, as well as for some of the males and queens, mostly described here for the first time. Identification keys for all known castes, distribution maps and high-resolution illustrations are supplied for all species.


Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2259 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
GARY A. P. GIBSON

Spalangia Latreille and Playaspalangia Yoshimoto, the only two genera classified in Spalangiinae (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae) are revised for the New World. Thirty-one species of Spalangia and a single species of Playaspalangia, P. rothi Yoshimoto, are recognized from the New World. One further name, Spalangia tarsalis Brèthes, is treated as a nomen dubium. European species of Spalangia not yet known from the New World are also discussed and illustrated relative to regional species, but are not treated formally. The following new synonymies are proposed: Spalangia erythromera brachyceps Bouček under Spalangia erythromera Förster n. syn., Spalangia bakeri Kieffer under Spalangia chontalensis Cameron n. syn., and Spalangia lanaiensis Ashmead under Spalangia impunctata Howard n. syn. Spalangia simplex Perkins is newly recorded from the New World and the following 13 species are described as new: Spalangia alyxia n. sp., Spalangia flavicrus n. sp., Spalangia imitator n. sp., Spalangia innuba n. sp., Spalangia leiopleura n. sp., Spalangia masneri n. sp., Spalangia nigroides n. sp., Spalangia noyesi n. sp., Spalangia plaumanni n. sp., Spalangia rugosifrons n. sp., Spalangia stictocephala n. sp., Spalangia stictocyla n. sp., and Spalangia xanthoscapa n. sp. The 2 genera and the 32 regional species of Spalangiinae are keyed, described and illustrated, and regional hosts and distributions are summarized for each species. Distribution maps document the known range of each of the species in the New World. For purposes of comparison of morphologically similar species, 7 informal species groups are recognized in Spalangia to include 29 of the 31 New World species: the attae-group (S. attae Burks, S. rugosifrons, S. stictocyla and S. stictocephala), the cameroni-group (S. cameroni Perkins, S. longepetiolata Bouček and S. gemina Bouček), the drosophilae- group (S. bethyloides Bouček, S. drosophilae Ashmead, S. flavicrus, S. impunctata, S. innuba, S. leiopleura and S. plaumanni), the endius group (S. endius Walker and S. nigripes), the nigra-group (S. alyxia, S. chontalensis, S. masneri, S. nigra Latreille, S. nigroides and S. nigroaenea Curtis), the noyesi-group (S. noyesi and S. xanthoscapa), and the subpunctata-group (S. erythromera, S. fuscipes, S. haematobiae Ashmead, S. imitator and S. subpunctata Förster).


Author(s):  
Michael F Braby

This is the first complete field guide to all butterfly species on Australia’s mainland and its remote islands. Written by one of Australia's leading lepidopterists, it is stunningly illustrated with colour photographs of each of the 416 currently identified species. There is also a distribution map for each species on the Australian mainland. It covers the five major family groups: Hesperiidae, Paplionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae and Lycaenidae, as well as the family Riodinidae, which has but a single species in Australia. The introduction covers adult structure, classification, distribution and habitats, and life cycle and behaviour. This is followed by accounts of each of the 416 species, giving common name, scientific name, and other names (if any), as well as details of behaviour, habitat, status, and larval food plants. Accompanying each species is a distribution map, and photographs of the upperside and underside of both male and female specimens. The book also contains a checklist of all species, a list of entomological contacts, a glossary, a bibliography, an index of common names and an index of scientific names.


Zootaxa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1737 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. BLAIR HEDGES ◽  
WILLIAM E. DUELLMAN ◽  
MATTHEW P. HEINICKE

New World frogs recently placed in a single, enormous family (Brachycephalidae) have direct development and reproduce on land, often far away from water. DNA sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear genes of 344 species were analyzed to estimate their relationships. The molecular phylogeny in turn was used as the basis for a revised classification of the group. The 882 described species are placed in a new taxon, Terrarana, and allocated to four families, four subfamilies, 24 genera, 11 subgenera, 33 species series, 56 species groups, and 11 species subgroups. Systematic accounts are provided for all taxa above the species level. Two families (Craugastoridae and Strabomantidae), three subfamilies (Holoadeninae, Phyzelaphryninae, and Strabomantinae), six genera (Bryophryne, Diasporus, Haddadus, Isodactylus, Lynchius, and Psychrophrynella), and two subgenera (Campbellius and Schwartzius) are proposed and named as new taxa, 13 subspecies are considered to be distinct species, and 613 new combinations are formed. Most of the 100 informal groups (species series, species groups, and species subgroups) are new or newly defined. Brachycephalus and Ischnocnema are placed in Brachycephalidae, a relatively small clade restricted primarily to southeastern Brazil. Eleutherodactylidae includes two subfamilies, four genera, and five subgenera and is centered in the Caribbean region. Craugastoridae contains two genera and three subgenera and is distributed mainly in Middle America. Strabomantidae is distributed primarily in the Andes of northwestern South America and includes two subfamilies, 16 genera, and three subgenera. Images and distribution maps are presented for taxa above the species level and a complete list of species is provided. Aspects of the evolution, biogeography, and conservation of Terrarana are discussed.


Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2376 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
HELIO PIEROTTI ◽  
CESARE BELLÒ ◽  
MIGUEL A. ALONSO-ZARAZAGA

A synthesis of the present knowledge of the Spanish Peritelini is presented. Two new genera are separated from Peritelus auctt.: Euplister (type species: Peritelus susanae Seidlitz, 1866) and Pseudoperitelus (type species: Peritelus globulicollis Seidlitz, 1862). Thirteen new species are described from Spain: Meira gerundana, M. medae, M. tarraconensis, Pseudomeira baetica, P. eremita, P. lepida, Euplister andalusicus, E. frater, E. megalophthalmus, E. mimus, E. moroderi, E. trifolii, E. velazquezi. New combinations are: Euplister susanae (Seidlitz, 1866), E. hybridus (Seidlitz, 1871), E. setabensis (Hustache, 1921), E. magnicollis (Desbrochers, 1896), E. coniceps (Desbrochers, 1897), Pseudoperitelus senex (Boheman, 1834), P. globulicollis (Seidlitz, 1871), P. espanoli (Roudier, 1958) and P. lopezi (Hoffmann, 1961), and one new synonym is proposed: Simo cremieri (Boheman, 1842) = Peritelus maroccanus Pic, 1920, syn. n. One genus, Meira Jacquelin du Val, 1853, and two species, Gymnomorphus nigrans (Fairmaire, 1862) and Meirella florentina (Stierlin, 1884), are newly recorded from Spain, bringing the total number of Peritelini known from Iberia to ten genera and thirtysix species. Diagnoses, detailed descriptions and data on distribution and ecology, mostly unpublished, are provided for each species, and a catalogue, identification keys, distribution maps and figures of key anatomical characters are added for the Iberian species. Caenopsis Bach, 1854 is excluded from Peritelini and confirmed as belonging in Trachyphloeini.


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