Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Faunal Directory

Pygidicranidae

Pygidicranidae

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Family PYGIDICRANIDAE


Compiler and date details

Gerasimos Cassis, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Introduction

The Pygidicranidae are found mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. Steinmann (1986) revised the world fauna based on the influential works of Hincks (1955, 1959). More recently, Steinmann (1989) recognised 11 subfamilies, one of which, the Ethiopian Diplatyinae, is accorded family status by others workers (Sakai 1982).

The family is poorly represented in Australia. Only four subfamilies, two endemic genera, Austroblandex Brindle and Brindlensia Srivastava, and several species in the broadly distributed genera, Echinosoma Serville, Cranopygia Burr and Dacnodes Burr, have been recorded.

Pygidicranids have been consistently separated from the rest of the earwigs on the basis of having what has been referred to as the blattoid neck, with anterior and posterior ventral sclerites of equal size, the latter usually free of the prosternum. Males are also characterised by a pair of median genital lobes.

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
12-Feb-2010 (import)