Andiperla willinki
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| Aubert , 1956 |
Andiperla willinki is a stonefly that lives in the crevasses of the Patagonian Andes in South America . It has its own frost protection and feeds on organic inclusions in the ice. The specific epithet willinki was given in honor of the Dutch- born Argentine entomologist Abraham Willink (1920–1998), who discovered the first specimens of these stone flies.
features
Characteristic of willinki Andi Perla is that the adult animal does not develop wings. It resembles the larval stage ( neoteny ) in many features . The abdomen is back side completely chitinized . Andiperla willinki is strikingly reddish-brown and black in color. The ocelles are missing , the complex eyes are present and hemispherical. , As in the in the legs Zealand occurring also at high altitudes Stonefly Rakiuraperla nudipes no Empodien formed between the claws of the end members. This adaptation reduces the surface with which these stone flies touch the substrate, mostly ice. The legs of the larvae have no setae or other swimming processes. The abdomen threads ( cerci ) are very short.
Occurrence
Abraham Willink discovered specimens of this stonefly in 1953 on the Upsala Glacier near Lake Argentino in the province of Santa Cruz in southern Argentina. He sent adult specimens and nymphs to the Swiss entomologist Jacques-F. Aubert , who published the first description in 1956.
In 2001, the insect was rediscovered by Henri Garcia, a diver, in the waters beneath a glacier in Chilean Torres del Paine National Park . Since the participants of the expedition did not know which insect it was, it was called the "Patagonian Dragon" because of the bizarre appearance of the larva. Andiperla willinki has now also been found on the Argentine Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia.
Systematics
Because of the extraordinary characteristics of this stonefly, Aubert placed it in a newly established genus, which he named Andiperla because of its location in the Andes . He noticed similarities between the last abdomen segment of the males of Andiperla and that of the genus Gripopteryx, which also occurs in South America . Therefore the genus Andiperla was placed in the family of the Gripopterygidae . It has remained a monotypical genus to this day, ie Andiperla willinki is the only species in this genus. Together with other genera such as Aubertoperla , Dinoperla and Limnoperla , Andiperla belongs to the subfamily Paragripopteryginae.
physiology
Andiperla willinki is researched for its physiological adaptations to life in the ice. The stone fly generates an antifreeze agent based on glycerol , as well as an antifreeze in the cooling water systems is of automobiles use. Andiperla 's own fluids are protected from freezing, which would damage the cell tissue due to the formation of ice crystals and cause the vessels to burst due to the expansion of the fluid in the frozen state.
Also metabolic properties in the diet under extreme temperature conditions are investigated.
supporting documents
literature
- Jacques-F. Aubert: Andiperla willinki, n. Sp., Plécoptère nouveau des Andes de Patagonie. Communications of the Swiss Entomological Society, 29, 2, pp. 229–232, July 1956 (first description, French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Patagonian Dragon at terra-x.zdf.de, accessed on March 11, 2010
- ↑ Le Dragon de Patagonie. Documentaire de Gilles Santantonio (France, 2005) ( Memento of the original of September 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Telerama, May 7, 2007 (French)
Web links
- Image on Kyoto University website (Japanese)
- Information on the type, photos and secondary sources (Engl.)