Morphological variation in adult Cromwell chafer beetles Prodontria lewisi
نویسنده
چکیده
Adult Cromwell chafer beetles (Prodontria lewisi) from the Cromwell area were investigated for sex-specific morphological variation. Material from the National Arthropod Collection, Landcare Research Auckland and the Otago Museum that had been collected since the 1940s was examined. Females were significantly larger than males, but size-related variables were not effective in distinguishing between sexes in multivariate space. However, hindleg lengths of males were longer than females and sexes were separated according to this gradient in multivariate space. Sex-specific variation of variables were unimodal and characterised by small standard deviations. The findings support the present taxonomic distinctiveness used to assign a Category A conservation status to this species.
منابع مشابه
Conservation of the Cromwell Chafer Prodontria Lewisi (coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)
The Cromwell chafer, Prodontria lewisi, is a flightless chafer beetle whose natural range appears not to have been more than 500 hectares and which now, because of habitat destruction and modification, is reduced to about 100 hectares. This inhabited area is situated on the terrace on which the town of Cromwell, Central Otago, is built. The continued existence of the Cromwell chafer is threaten...
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