168 WISE 
Colours 
Colours which may be seen from the front or above are basically the dark ground- 
colour (dark marks) and the paler colour markings. However, strong white setae 
scattered over the head, basal antennal segments, thorax, legs and the wide basal area 
of the sutural streak on the elytra partially obscure these dark areas and give them a 
more or less paler appearance. 
Labrum. This is pale, similar to the elytral colour, with sometimes small brown spots, 
at the bases of prominent setae across the middle, and always with a short brown 
median tooth distally. 
Head and thorax. Both are dark, the black ground-colour usually with more or less 
reddish or greenish metallic sheen, 
Antennae and legs. Two basal segments of the antennae and femora of the legs are 
dark. Antennal segments 3 and 4 are pale as are the tibiae of the legs. The remaining 
antennal segments distally are dark as are the distal ends of the tibiae and the tarsal 
segments. The whole effect is to break up the outline around the body, 
Elyira. The dark ground-colour is basically black (as it appears macroscopically) 
often with reddish meteallic sheen (seen more when magnified under bright light) and 
with many metallic green spots which are mostly blue-centred. The background 
colour of the dorsum (thorax and elytral dark marks) varies in appearance with light 
and magnification. However, east coast Neocicindela hrevilunata show the reddish 
sheen more. West coast “perhispida” and northern “giveni” show more green with the 
greenest being from Ahipara on Ninety Mile Beach. The darker “campbelli” show as 
a dull black. 
Elytral colour of west coast specimens is mostly in shades of cream but can be 
more or less yellowish. Specimens from the far north coast are very pale cream in 
colour and from the adjacent east coast are clear white. On specimens from Marsden 
Pt. southwards on the east coast the colour markings are dull white. There are 
occasional small dark spots on the pale areas (of specimens from any coast), 
particularly basally and apically, and sometimes a dusting of fine spots over the whole 
pale colour area. 
Elytral markings 
The description of perhispida by Broun (1880) is simple as he recognised the dark 
groundcolour was reduced so that the dark marks represented the form of an anchor. 
His description of campbelli (Broun 1886), however, is a compelte contrast as he 
described the pale colour pattern which made for a complicated description. 
The same difficulty was found by Horn (1926b) who gave a latin description of 
the colour pattern for brevilunata, then explained the colour patterns of campbelli, 
perhispida and brevilunata in the following text, but he made a distinction between the 
last two clear by turning to the form of the dark marks in his last sentence. 
