Albert Allen false firefly beetle (Namibdrilus albertalleni) from Namibia with unique morphology of Drilini

NEWS - Albert Allen false firefly beetle (Namibdrilus albertalleni) from Namibia brings the Drilini to 16 genera as this unique taxon provides new insights into the diversity and evolution of this enigmatic and intriguing lineage of paedomorphic beetles.

Drilini are soft-bodied predatory beetles with females undergoing incomplete metamorphosis. About 150 described species are distributed across the Afrotropical, Palearctic and Oriental regions with the highest diversity known from sub-Saharan Africa.

The type species in this study is the only representative of Drilini with unidentified mandibles and no hooks on the dorsal part of the median aedeagal lobe, two of the few characters used for identification. Morphology belongs to the Drilus clade which previously contained only taxa from the Palearctic Region.

The Namibian specimen and the generic name Namibdrilus are derived from the Republic of Namibia, plus Drilus, the genus name within the Elateridae. The name albertalleni is from Albert Allen who allowed Robin Kundrata and Gabriela Packova from Palacky University in Olomouc to study the unique specimen.

Based on the results of molecular phylogeny and morphological characters, Drilini is divided into clades A, W, S, M and D. Clades A, W, S and M contain Afrotropical taxa singly or predominantly with some species of clade S extending into the Oriental Region, while clade D contains exclusively Palearctic species.

The researchers suspect that Namibdrilus from southern Africa belongs to one of the African clades, but morphologically it belongs to the clade containing the Palearctic species. All known African Drilini differ from Namibdrilus by having a short frontoclipal region and a median aedeagal lobe with a dorsal hook.

One of the most striking characters of Namibdrilus is that the frontoclipal is very forward and is even visible from the ventral view of the head. Drilini have frontoclipal regions of variable shape, but none of them resemble the frontoclipal region of Namibdrilus which is oriented straight forward and somewhat truncated apically and broadly rounded.

Original research

Kundrata R, Packova G (2024). Discovery of a new soft-bodied click-beetle genus from Namibia with a unique morphology leads to a modified diagnosis of Drilini (Coleoptera, Elateridae). ZooKeys 1213: 183-197, DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1213.131283

Dlium theDlium

Tiang fern (Cyathea contaminans)

Paku tiang or pole fern or tiang fern ( Cyathea contaminans ) is a plant species in Cyatheaceae, has a height of up to 12 m, a single stem and the old part shows traces of leaves, the basal part is thickened by adventitious roots and grows mixed with other species. C. contaminans has stipe for 100 cm long, gloucous, purplish to the base, very thorny, when young has scales on all parts, up to 45x3 mm in size, pale brown, very thin and setiferous. The main rachis is pale, prickly, scaly as a stipe but then glabrescent. Pinnae has the largest size of 60 cm and the lowest decreases with stems up to 10 cm. Pinnules have a size of 150x30 mm or smaller with 1-2 pairs of basal segments more or not at all, the rest of the pine curved almost to the rib. Costules have a size of 4-5 mm. Common veins are 12 pairs. The lamina segment is hard, rough on the bottom and fibrous edges. Sori is exindusiate, near costule and pale paraphrase is no more than sporangia. The scales and hair on the pi...

Wild durian (Cullenia exarillata)

Wild durian ( Cullenia exarillata ) is a species of plant in the Malvaceae, a tall tree with smooth, greyish-white bark, peeling on older trees, a straight trunk, horizontal branches and often with a series of knob-like tubercles for flower and fruit attachment. C. exarillata has young branches and the underside of the leaves is covered with golden brown peltate or shield-like scales. The leaves are single, alternate, glabrous, glossy green on the upper side and covered with silvery or orange peltate scales on the underside. Hermaphroditic flowers are tubular and also covered with golden brown scales, 4-5 cm long and cream or reddish brown in color. Flowers have no petals, formed of tubular bracteoles and tubular calyxes, 5-lobed. Fruit is round, 10-13 cm in diameter, covered with thorns and clustered along the branches. Many seeds, reddish brown, 4-5 cm long and 2-3 cm wide. The seeds are enclosed by a fleshy, whitish aril. The fruit splits open when ripe and dries to release the s...

Black potato (Coleus rotundifolius)

Black potato ( Coleus rotundifolius ) is a species of plant in Lamiaceae, herbaceous, fibrous roots and tubers, erect and slightly creeping stems, quadrangular, thick, and slightly odorous. Single leaves, thick, membranous, opposite and alternate. Leaves are oval, dark green and shiny on the upper side, bright green on the lower side. Up to 5 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, slightly hairy and pinnate leaf veins. Leaf stalks up to 4 cm long. Small, purple flowers. Star-shaped petals, lip-shaped crown, dark to light purple with a slightly curved tube shape. Flowering from February-August. Small tubers, brown and white flesh and tuber length 2-4 cm. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Nepetoideae Tribe: Ocimeae Subtribe: Plectranthinae Genus: Coleus Species: Coleus rotundifolius

Dlium