Chaetospania gardineri

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Chaetospania gardineri
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Earwigs (Dermaptera)
Family : Spongiphoridae
Genre : Chaetospania
Type : Chaetospania gardineri
Scientific name
Chaetospania gardineri
( Burr , 1910)

Chaetospania gardineri is a rare insect from the order of earwigs . It is in the Seychelles Islands Silhouette and Mahe endemic . The type epithet honors the British zoologist John Stanley Gardiner (1872-1946), who organized expeditions to the Seychelles between 1905 and 1906.

features

Chaetospania gardineri , including the pincers, reaches a length of 6 to 7 mm. The general coloring is dark chestnut or red and black. The tegmina is always light, the wing scales are dark. The whole body is covered with long, fine and light hairs. The eyes are small. The antennas are dark. The basal segments are black, the distal segments are white. The pronotum is rectangular. The short legs are pale yellow distal to the tarsi . The third tarsus is a little longer than the first. The last abdominal segment is rectangular and transverse with central depressions and small elevations above the abdominal appendage . The pygidium is short, broad and indented, at the back it is shortened. The angles form sharp points which, like the sides, are concave. The pincer branches stand apart at the base. They are fairly straight, with a sharp point in the middle of the inner edge, then they bend inwards abruptly, almost at a right angle.

Distribution area

There was evidence of Mahé between Trois Frères and Morne Seychellois as well as of Morné Blanc in 1908, above Cascade in 1909 and from Mont Coton in 1995. The species is from Silhouette above the Mare aux Cochons and from the region between La Passe and Grand Barbe .

habitat

Chaetospania gardineri inhabits moist woodland. The species is preferably found in the knots of the palm tree Verschaffeltia splendida .

Danger

The species was thought to be lost between 1909 and 1994. In December 1994 a female was first rediscovered on Silhouette and in January 1995 a male on Mahé. While the historical distribution area of ​​this species still had an area of ​​15 km², in 2006 it had shrunk to 5 km². The IUCN classifies Chaetospania gardineri in the category " critically endangered " . The main threat comes from habitat degradation from invasive plant species such as Cinnamomum verum . Further threats are forest fires and clearing. On Mahé, Chaetospania gardineri is probably endangered by the stalking of the introduced earwig Chelisoches morio .

literature

  • Malcolm Burr: Percy Sladen Trust Expedition. No. VII. Dermaptera. In: Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. Zoology. Series 2. Volume 14 (1910-1912) .: S. 131-132
  • Pat Matyot: The earwig Chaetospania gardineri (Burr, 1910) rediscovered In: Phelsuma 3 (1995): p. 58–62 pdf, online
  • Henrik Steinmann : Dermaptera. Eudermaptera I. Das Tierreich 106, De Gruyter, 1989, pp. 191-192
  • Justin Gerlach & Fabian Haas : The Orthopteroidea of ​​the Seychelles islands . Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 2007.:S. 41

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