Austroperla
Genus of stoneflies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Austroperla cyrene, the black stonefly, is a species of austroperlid stonefly endemic to New Zealand. It is the single species in the genus Austroperla. The species is a 'shredder' that lives and feeds on decomposing wood and leaves in streams throughout New Zealand.[1][2] It is particularly common in forested streams but relatively rare or absent from deforested streams.[3][4]
| Austroperla | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Plecoptera |
| Family: | Austroperlidae |
| Genus: | Austroperla Needham, 1905 |
| Species: | A. cyrene |
| Binomial name | |
| Austroperla cyrene (Newman, 1845) | |
A. cyrene nymphs and adults contain hydrogen cyanide[3] and as a result are toxic to predators.[5] To advertise their toxicity, A. cyrene adults have striking aposematic (warning) colouration, with bright yellow and white colour features against a black background.[6]
This distinctive warning coloration is mimicked by melanic specimens of the non-toxic stoneflies Zelandoperla fenestrata and Taraperla pseudocyrene.[1][5]
A fossilised specimen of Austroperla has been recorded from early Miocene sediments of Foulden Maar in Central Otago. A phylogenetic study of Southern Hemisphere stoneflies[7] similarly suggests an ancient history for this New Zealand lineage, with Austroperla estimated to have diverged from Australian and Chilean austroperlids around 37 million years ago.