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Macromia pyramidalis

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial ; Freshwater [1].

Ecology: Macromia moorei prefers forested, swift-flowing montane streams , whereas M. berlandi prefers slow-flowing sections or small impoundments  in small, moderately fast-flowing, forested, lowland streams.[1].

List of Habitats :

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 04-Aug-2008

Macromia pyramidalis Martin, 1907 was described from male and female specimens collected in Tonkin. Wilson and Reels (2001) raised a number of issues concerning the Macromia pyramidalis type specimens. The male specimen Martin described as M. pyramidalis, has the characteristics of Macromia moorei malayana Laidlaw 1928 and is almost certainly synonymous with it, but the female specimen is identical to Macromia berlandi Lieftinck, 1941. Martin's (1907) describes the type male with tenth abdominal segment as having a bump , which forms a not very pointed pyramid (M. berlandi has a very sharply pointed or spine-like pyramidal process ). An examination of the M. pyramidalis types, if they could be found (Martin commented that the male and female types were not in the Selys collection , but the actual location was not given), would likely reveal the female to be synonymous with M . berlandi and the male synonymous with M. moorei fumata  Krüger, 1899. Note Lieftinck (1929) considered  Macromia moorei malayana was synonymous with Macromia moorei fumata.

Lieftinck (1941) described M. berlandi from a Tonkinese male specimen identified by Martin (1907) as Macromia borneensis Krüger, 1899; the latter taxon is now recognised as a synonym of Macromia cincta Rambur, 1842. Wilson & Reels (2001) described the first female specimen of M. berlandi from a Hong Kong specimen. In summary Martin (1907) examined two males and one female Macromia speciemens collected from Tonkin in the Selys collection. These three specimens represent: (i) a male he misidentified as Macromia borneensis (= holotype M. berlandi male), (ii) a second male (type M. pyramidalis male = M. moorei malayana = M. moorei fumata) and (iii) a female (type M. pyramidalis = M. berlandi female).



There are two courses of corrective action possible: (1) Designate the male specimen, described by Martin (1907) as M. pyramidalis, as the holotype pyramidalis specimen. M. pyramidalis would then become a junior synonym of Macromia moorei Selys, 1874 and  the new combination Macromia moorei pyramidalis Martin, 1907 would become a junior synonym of Macromia moorei fumata (= M. moorei malayana). (2) Designate the female specimen as the holotype. M. pyramidalis Martin, 1907 would remain a valid taxon and Macromia berlandi Lieftinck, 1941 would be a junior synonym . The assessor strongly favours the first course of action which would have the least impact on current nomenclature and render Macromia berlandi a valid species. [1].

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Macromia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 12 species and subspecies in this genus:

M. alleghaniensis (Allegheny River Cruiser) · M. annulata (Bronzed River Cruiser) · M. illinoiensis (Illinois River Cruiser) · M. illinoiensis georgina (Georgia River Cruiser) · M. illinoiensis illinoiensis (Illinois River Cruiser) · M. magnifica (Western River Cruiser) · M. margarita (Mountain River Cruiser) · M. pacifica (Gilded River Cruiser) · M. splendens (Splendid Cruiser) · M. taeniolata (Royal River Cruiser) · M. urania (Club-Tailed Cruiser) · M. viridescens (Rainforest Cruiser)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Wilson, K.D.P. 2011. Macromia pyramidalis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 01 February 2012. [back]
Last Revised: 7/23/2012