Aplothorax burchelli
| Aplothorax burchelli | ||||||||||||
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Aplothorax burchelli (male) |
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Aplothorax | ||||||||||||
| Waterhouse , 1841 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Aplothorax burchelli | ||||||||||||
| Waterhouse , 1841 |
Aplothorax burchelli is a presumably extinct ground beetle from the island of St. Helena . The kind epithet honors the British naturalist William John Burchell .
Systematics
Aplothorax burchelli is believed to have descended from South African ground beetles that reached St. Helena in the Pliocene . The species is the only representative of the genus Aplothorax and the tribe Aplothoracini.
features
Aplothorax burchelli reached a length of 29 to 38 millimeters and was unable to fly. The species showed similarities with the beetles of the genus Carabus , from which it differed mainly in the shape of the smooth and arched pronotum without a raised edge and without impressions on the back corners. The head was large and almost as wide as the pronotum. The beetle was completely black. The antennae were thickened in the middle and elongated on the third segment. The jaws were short and sturdy. The semi-cylindrical wings were flat and rounded at the base. The legs were long, with the male's front feet not extended. The four front tarsi were covered with felt on the underside.
Occurrence and way of life
Aplothorax burchelli was endemic to Horse Point Plain in the far northeast of St. Helena. The species was nocturnal and was only observed during the rainy season.
status
After Thomas Vernon Wollaston searched in vain for the species in 1875/76, it was considered lost for a long time until it was rediscovered including the larvae in 1965/66 and 1967. When searching again in 1988 and 1993, however, no more specimens were found.
literature
- S. Oldfield, D. Procter and LV Fleming: Biodiversity: the UK Overseas Territories. 1999, ISBN 1-86107-502-2 .
- Firmin-Didot et al .: Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle; ou, traité complet de cette science d'après les travaux des naturalistes les plus éminents de tous les pays et de toutes les époques - Coléoptères.
- WF Erichson: Archives for Natural History. Eighth year. Second volume. Nicolai'sche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1842.
- WF Erichson: Archives for Natural History. Tenth year. First volume. Nicolai'sche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1844.
- Journal of the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London. Royal Entomological Society of London. 1841.
- Peter Nagel: Key words and summary of the lecture Animal Geography. Summer semester 2006. University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences, Nature, Landscape and Environmental Protection (NLU) - Biogeography ( PDF, full text ).