Valid Names Results

Phenacoleachia australis Beardsley, 1964 (Phenacoleachiidae: Phenacoleachia)

Phenacoleachia australis Beardsley 1964b: 239-245. Type data: NEW ZEALAND: Auckland Island, Bivouac Hill, 300m, on Pleurophyllum sp., 16/01/1963, by Gressitt. Holotype, female, by original designation Type depository: Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Department of Entomology Collection, Hawaii, USA; accepted valid name Illustr.

Families: 1 | Genera: 1

Countries: 1

Systematics: Phenacoleachia australis differs from P. zealandica in the adult female in the position by having 9-segmented antenna and a less well-developed denticle on the inner face of the tarsal claws. Although the presence or absence of ostioles has been used to distinguish these species, Gullan (personal communication June 26, 2003) has seen both pairs of ostioles on both species. In the adult male, P. australis differs from P. zealandica in being completely apterous without development of the usually thoracic sclerites; in having the head broadly joined to the thorax, not distinctly separated; in having shorter antennae, and having a relatively small ocular sclerite bearing only 5 simple eyes, rather than 8 (Beardsley, 1964b). Gavrilov-Zimin (2018), studied two specimens of Phenacoleachia australis and Phenacoleachia zealandica and decided that there were no distinct diagnostic characters separating the two species. He also noted the variation among males in the large collection of P. zealandica in Gullan & Cook, 2001. Based on this data, he made P. australis a junior synonym of P. zealandica.
Structure: Adult female is fusiform, broadest across anterior abdominal segments, conspicuously narrower posteriorly. Adult male completely apterous, without vestiges of wings (Beardsley, 1964b).
General Remarks: Original and detailed description of adult male and female by Beardsley (1964b).