Aglyptinus agathidioides
| Aglyptinus agathidioides | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aglyptinus agathidioides | ||||||||||||
| Blair , 1930 |
Aglyptinus agathidioides (English common name : Potters Bar beetle) is a little-explored species of beetle from the subfamily of the sponge ball beetle (Leiodinae). It is known only from two specimens, a male ( holotype ) and a female ( paratype ), which were discovered on April 14, 1912 by the beetle collector EC Bedwell in a pond nest near the English town of Potters Bar in Hertfordshire . The male is in the Natural History Museum's beetle collection, the female remained in Bedwell's collection, which is now in the Norwich Castle Museum .
features
Features and measurements are only documented from the holotype. The body length is 1 mm. The general appearance of the beetle is ovoid, very domed, and shiny. The top is pitch black. The underside as well as the mouth, the wings , the legs and the antennae are yellowish-brown. The flanks and the lower edge of the thorax are also yellowish-brown. The feelers are divided into eleven. The tarsi are thin and three-fold. The femur is wide and flat.
Origin and status
Both the origin and the status of this species are unclear. While some experts, including blogger and ornithologist Mark Avery or biologist Justin Gerlach , suspect it may be an extinct beetle from the British Isles, others, including entomologist Jonathan Cooter , consider it a neozoon . Aglyptinus is a genus that is widespread in Central America and Aglyptinus agathidioides is particularly similar to Aglyptinus minor from Guatemala. However, neither intensive searches in England, especially in mute swan and pond claw nests in Hertfordshire, nor surveys of American entomologists have led to the rediscovery of this species.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Kenneth Gloyne Blair: Aglyptinus agathidioides sp. n. (fam.Silphidae), a new british beetle. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 66, 1930: pp. 7-8.
- ^ Justin Gerlach: Extinct animals of the British Isles. Lulu Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1-3260-8603-9 , p. 80
- ^ Jonathan Cooter: Annotated keys to the British Leiodinae (Col., Leiodidae). Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 132, 1996: 205-272.