Platyrhopalopsis melleii

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Platyrhopalopsis melleii
Platyrhopalopsis mellei.png
A specimen collected in 1966
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Carabidae
Genus: Platyrhopalopsis
Species:
P. melleii
Binomial name
Platyrhopalopsis melleii
(Westwood, 1833)
Synonyms

Platyrhopalus melleii

Platyrhopalopsis melleii is a species of ant-nest or flanged bombardier beetle found in southern India. They live inside the nests of ants of the genus Carebara and adults are only rarely seen in the open, most often at night when they get attracted to lights.

The species was first described by J. O. Westwood as Platyrhopalus melleii, named after entomological collector André Melly of Manchester who had obtained a specimen from Malabar. Westwood however spelled the collector's name incorrectly as "Melley" and the species name has since been variously rendered in literature as meleii, mellyi or melleyi.[1] Adults live inside the nests of ants of the genus Carebara and are rarely seen except when attracted to lights at night. The flat terminal segment of the antenna is thought, based on studies of pupal development, to be formed by the fusion of multiple antennomere segments.[2][3]

A live specimen

The larvae have been found in the nests of Carebara diversus (formerly Pheidologeton diversus).[4] The adults have a stridulatory organ of the thorax–femur involving the movement of the mesofemur (scraper) against the metasternum (file).[5] The larvae have a disc at the caudal end that is bent over the head and thought to be involved in communication with ants.[4]

Males are slightly smaller and the elytra covers more of the abdomen. They can be separated from the similar looking by the angular side to the pronotum, which is rounded in picteti. The margin of the antennal club is more rounded, lacking any sign of notches, and the edge is fringed with fine hairs. They can produce an explosive blast of hot quinones like other flanged bombardier beetles, but this defense is never used against ants.

References[]

  1. ^ Westwood, J.O. (1833). "On the Paussidae, a Family of Coleopterous Insects". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 16 (3): 607–684. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1829.tb00157.x.
  2. ^ Di Giulio, Andrea; Kaupp, Andreas; Fattorini, Simone; Taglianti, A. Vigna; Nagel, Peter (2007). "Pupal morphology in the subfamily Paussinae (Coleoptera: Carabidae)". Revue suisse de Zoologie. 114 (1): 33–48. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.80386.
  3. ^ Fowler, W.W. (1912). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Coleoptera. General Introduction and Cicindelidae and Paussidae. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 467–468.
  4. ^ a b Geiselhardt, Stefanie F.; Peschke, Klaus; Nagel, Peter (2007-10-02). "A review of myrmecophily in ant nest beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussinae): linking early observations with recent findings". Naturwissenschaften. 94 (11): 871–894. Bibcode:2007NW.....94..871G. doi:10.1007/s00114-007-0271-x. ISSN 0028-1042. PMID 17563864. S2CID 945199.
  5. ^ Di Giulio, Andrea; Fattorini, Simone; Moore, Wendy; Robertson, James; Maurizi, Emanuela (2014). "Form, function and evolutionary significance of stridulatory organs in ant nest beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Paussini)". European Journal of Entomology. 111 (5): 692–702. doi:10.14411/eje.2014.083.
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