Sphodrisomus
Kipling WillCharacteristics
Member taxa are recognizable from other Austral pterostichines by the ovate form of the elytra, the extremely long palps, long gracile legs, relatively large head and a glossal sclerite that, in most individuals, has two pair of apico-ventral setae rather than the more common condition of one pair. Specimens will trace to Notonomus in Moore’s 1965 key to pterostichine genera of Australia and New Zealand and can be separated from members of that taxon by the lack of the dorsal setigerous puncture on the third elytral interval and in most individuals, presence of two pair of apico-ventral setae or at least two or more setae on one side of the midline.
KEY TO ADULTS OF SPHODROSOMUS
1. Anterior face of profemur with one medial and one basal seta; elytral dorsal surface scarcely papillose, relatively smooth in dorso-media third
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sphodrosomus monteithi Will
– Anterior face of profemur with more than two setae, in most individuals arranged as a longitudinal row of 4-10 setae and cluster of 2-4 basal setae; elytral dorsal surface clearly and uniformly papillose throughout
. . . . . . . Sphodrosomus saisseti Perroud & Montrouzier
Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships
The habitus of Sphodrosomus species is similar to members of Psegmatopterus Chaudoir, Platysmodes Fauvel and Notonomus Chaudoir. DNA sequence data (28s rDNA, K.Will and D. Maddison unpublished) suggest that these taxa and other genera in Moore’s (1965) Notonomus series may form a monophyletic group.
About This Page
Kipling Will
University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Kipling Will at
Page copyright © 2006 Kipling Will
Page: Tree of Life Sphodrisomus Authored by . Kipling Will. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.
- First online 07 July 2006
- Content changed 30 May 2007
Citing this page:
Will, Kipling. 2007. Sphodrisomus http://tolweb.org/Sphodrisomus/51535/2007.05.30 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
. Version 30 May 2007 (under construction).