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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 | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
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.