THE FIRST WINGLESS STONEFLY FROM AUSTRALIA* 
By Joachim Illies 
M ax-Planck-Institut fur Limnologie 
Schlitz, Germany 
INTRODUCTION 
The first wingless stoneflies (two species of Apteryoperla ) were 
described by Wisely (1953) from high-mountain grasslands in New 
Zealand. They were obtained, together with their larvae(!), far 
from any water in the damp atmosphere of alpine tussocks and under 
stones. The same terrestrial way of life is obvious for the larvae of 
some other wingless Apteryoperla species which lilies (1963a) de- 
scribed from the subantarctic Campbell and Auckland Islands (both 
within the realms of New Zealand). Here, however, the same 
genus yields a truly aquatic species too, Apteryoperla longicauda, indu 
eating that terrestrial or semi-terrestrial larval life is not essential 
for this type of apterous gripopterygid. As the male genitalia do not 
show any marked difference between the genera Apteryoperla and 
Aucklandobius, it seems that even the lack of wings in Apteryoperla 
is not really a generic character but has to be considered as a virtual 
adaptation at the species level of a genus which embraces both 
groups (and which, consequently, should be named Aucklandobius ) . 
In the Patagonian Andes of Chile and Argentina, some years 
ago, the same life-type of wingless and semi-terrestrial Plecoptera 
was found (Illies i960, 1963) : the new genera Megandiperla and 
Andiperlodes , which belong to different subfamilies of Gripoptery- 
gidae. Describing a wingless stonefly Andiperla from Patagonian 
Argentina, Aubert (1956) had previously erected the subfamily 
Andiperlinae, which was to harbour all apterous genera of Gripop- 
terygidae. In a special study of this problem (Illies 1964) it was 
shown that this subfamily is unnatural as it is based on only second- 
ary convergences (lack of ocelli and wings, semi-aquatic larval life) 
and not on synapomorphies. It was rejected, therefore, and in the 
modern system of Plecoptera the wingless genera now are incorpor- 
ated into several subfamilies of the family Gripopterygidae. 
* Manuscript received by the Editor October 25, 1968 
328 
