Austroperla

{{Short description|Genus of stoneflies}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2024}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Austroperla cyrene 249030344.jpg

|genus = Austroperla

|parent_authority = Needham, 1905

|species = cyrene

|authority = (Newman, 1845)

}}

Austroperla cyrene, the black stonefly, is a species of austroperlid stonefly endemic to New Zealand. It is the single species in the genus Austroperla. The species is a 'shredder' that lives and feeds on decomposing wood and leaves in streams throughout New Zealand.{{cite journal |last1=McLellan |first1=Ian |title=Austroperla cyrene Newman (Plecoptera: Austroperlidae) |journal=New Zealand Journal of Zoology |date=1997 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=271–278 |doi=10.1080/03014223.1997.9517538|bibcode=1997JRSNZ..27..271M }}{{cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=NH |title=A survey of aquatic insects associated with wood debris in New Zealand streams |journal=Mauri Ora |date=1982 |volume=10 |pages=21–33}} It is particularly common in forested streams but relatively rare or absent from deforested streams.{{cite journal |last1=Thomson |first1=Margaret |title=An account of the systematics, anatomy and bionomics of Austroperla cyrene Newman |journal=University of Canterbury MSC Thesis. |date=1934}}{{cite journal |last1=Harding |first1=Jon |last2=Winterbourn |first2=Michael |title=Effects of contrasting land use on physico-chemical conditions and benthic assemblages of streams in a Canterbury (South Island, New Zealand) river system |journal=New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research |date=1995 |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=479–492|doi=10.1080/00288330.1995.9516681 |bibcode=1995NZJMF..29..479H }}

A. cyrene nymphs and adults contain hydrogen cyanide and as a result are toxic to predators.{{cite journal |last1=Foster |first1=Brodie |last2=McCulloch |first2=Graham |last3=Foster |first3=Yasmin |last4=Kroos |first4=Gracie |last5=King |first5=Tania |last6=Waters |first6=Jonathan |title=ebony underpins Batesian mimicry in melanic stoneflies |journal=Molecular Ecology |date=2023 |volume=32 |issue=18 |pages=4986–4998 |doi=10.1111/mec.17085|doi-access=free |pmid=37503654 |bibcode=2023MolEc..32.4986F }} To advertise their toxicity, A. cyrene adults have striking aposematic (warning) colouration, with bright yellow and white colour features against a black background.{{cite journal |last1=Foster |first1=Brodie |last2=McCulloch |first2=Graham |last3=Waters |first3=Jonathan |title=Evidence for aposematism in a southern hemisphere stonefly family (Plecoptera: Austroperlidae) |journal=Austral Entomology |date=2021 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=267–275 |doi=10.1111/aen.12529}}

This distinctive warning coloration is mimicked by melanic specimens of the non-toxic stoneflies Zelandoperla fenestrata and Taraperla pseudocyrene.

A fossilised specimen of Austroperla has been recorded from early Miocene sediments of Foulden Maar in Central Otago. A phylogenetic study of Southern Hemisphere stoneflies{{cite journal |last1=McCulloch |first1=Graham |last2=Wallis |first2=Graham |last3=Waters |first3=Jonathan |title=A time-calibrated phylogeny of southern hemisphere stoneflies: Testing for Gondwanan origins |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |date=2016 |volume=96 |pages=150–160 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.028|pmid=26585029 |bibcode=2016MolPE..96..150M }} similarly suggests an ancient history for this New Zealand lineage, with Austroperla estimated to have diverged from Australian and Chilean austroperlids around 37 million years ago.