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A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF MAY-FLY (ORDER PLECTOPTERA) 

 FROM TASMANIA, BELONGING TO THE FAMILY SIPULURWAE. 



By R. J. TiLLVARD, M.A.. Sc.D. (Cantab.), D.Sc. (Sydney), C.M.Z.S., F.L.S., 

 F.E.S., Entomologist and Chief of the Hiological Department, Cawthron In- 

 stitute, Nelson, N.Z. 



(Plate xxxiv., and two Text-tigiiies). 



The Sipliluridae are probably the most archaic family of May-flies at pre- 

 sent existing. Though found in many parts of the world, their liead-quartere 

 may justly be said to be in New Zealand, where the large and magiiirteent 

 species of tlie genera Oniscigaster, Coloburiscus and Ameletiis were abundant 

 everywhere until the introduction of the Brown and Rainbow Trout greatly 

 reduced their numbers. In Australia, the only record for the family so far 

 is a single species of Coloburixcus from Victoria. Larvae closely resembling 

 those of Ameletus are well known to me in some of the Blue Mountain streams, 

 but they die almost as soon as taken out of the water, and I have never yet 

 either seen or reared the imago. Oniscigaster, which is the most remarkable 

 and probably the most archaic genus of the family, has so far not been recorded 

 outside of New Zealand. 



In January, 1917. 1 was on a visit to Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, witli 

 Mr. G. H. Hardy, then Curator of the Tasmanian Museum, Hobart. We left 

 for Launceston on the 22nd. On the 21st, we paid our last visit to Lakes 

 Dove and Lilla. Wliile skirting tlie edge <if the latter lake, on the return 

 journey, I noticed a May-fly climbing up some reeds growing out of fairly 

 shallow water in a small bay of the lake. I secured this in a pill-box, and at 

 once saw that it was something of interest. In the course of a few minutes, 

 five more subimagines of the same species emerged- from the water and climbed 

 jp the reeds. All these were secured. Two of them were killed and set the 

 same day. The other four were taken alive in the pill-boxes to Launceston, 

 where we arrived on the 24th. Two of them died en route, but the other two 

 changed into the imaginal stage late on the 23rd. Thus they existed more than 

 two whole days, under adverse conditions, in the subimaginal stage. This long 

 existence in the usually exceedingly short and transient subimaginal stage is 

 also characteristic of the New Zealand Siphhtridae, and is doubtless a survival 

 of a very ancient habit of life, as is also the manner of emergence by crawling 

 up a reed-stem, instead of by flying directly up from the surface of the water. 



W|hen examined, these May-flies proved to belong to the family Siphluridae, 

 and also to be very closely allied to Om'scigaster. For their reception I here 

 propose to define a new genus with the name Tasmanophlehia, as follows : — 



