Family ANISOLABIDIDAE
Compiler and date details
Gerasimos Cassis, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Introduction
The Anisolabididae are a cosmopolitan family of mostly wingless, ground-dwelling earwigs. The family comprises eight subfamilies, five of which are represented in Australia (Steinmann 1989a). One of these subfamilies, the Anisolabidinae, is represented in Australia by six described genera and 20 species. Steinmann (1989b) revised the world Anisolabididae.
In the Anisolabidinae, Anisolabis Fieber is the most speciose genus. Nine species, including the broadly distributed species, A. littorea (White) and A. maritima (Gené), are found in Australia. The genus Titanolabis Burr includes some of the largest known species of earwigs.
Most species are characterised by fore- and hind wings absent, neck of forficuloid-type, with the anterior ventral sclerite much smaller than the posterior ventral sclerite. Males have two median genital lobes, each with a virga, but unlike the Labiduridae, the basal vesicle is not truly sclerotised.
General References
Steinmann, H. 1989a. World Catalogue of Dermaptera. Dordrecht : Kluwer Academic Publishers 934 pp.
Steinmann, H. 1989b. Dermaptera. Catadermaptera II. Das Tierreich 105: xix 1-504
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |