Misplaced Pages

Mecodema scitulum

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Species of beetle

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Mecodema scitulum" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.
Find sources: "Mecodema scitulum" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2021)
An editor has performed a search and found that sufficient sources exist to establish the subject's notability. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Mecodema scitulum" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)

Mecodema scitulum
Dorsal view of Mecodema scitulum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Carabidae
Genus: Mecodema
Species: M. scitulum
Binomial name
Mecodema scitulum
Broun, 1894

Mecodema scitulum is a species of endemic New Zealand flightless beetle in the family Carabidae. It was first described by Thomas Broun, in 1984, from a single specimen that he received from the Edwin Mitchelson. This species then became a junior synonym of Mecodema spiniferum after Everard B. Britton completed his revision of the New Zealand Broscini in 1949. Like Broun, Britton based this synonymy on the only specimen available, the holotype, because of the confusion surrounding the type locality where M. scitulum was collected from. However, D.S. Seldon and T.R. Buckley (2019) reinstated the species M. scitulum based on the morphological comparisons of 30+ specimens with the holotype and molecular analyses.

Diagnosis

Mecodema scitulum is distinguished from other North Island Mecodema by the vertexal groove at the back of the head being defined by obsolescent (just visible) punctures along its entire length; the convexity of the elytral intervals and the unique shape of the apical portion of the penis lobe.

Description

The range of lengths is 22–26.5 mm and the width range (elytra) is 6–7 mm. The colour of the entire body is matte black.

Natural history

This species is found in regenerating native forest in the northern parts of the Hunua Ranges (e.g., Mataitai Forest), but it may be also present in some of the forest fragments around and north of Clevedon, Auckland, New Zealand. Mecodema scitulum is a nocturnal predator on the forest floor and preys on a range of different invertebrates (e.g., worms, caterpillars, etc.).

References

  1. "Notes on the Entomology of Mount Holdsworth, Tararua Range". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 37: 342. 1905 – via Papers Past.
Taxon identifiers
Mecodema scitulum


Stub icon

This Broscinae-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: