Under Construction

Stereostoma

Kipling Will
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Containing group: Morionini

Introduction

Stereostoma (s.str.) contains six species from western Africa. The 22 species of Stereostoma (Stereodema) are known from western and west-central Africa. Species may be associated with termites.

Characteristics

Large deep-bodied species with prominent eyes that lack the prominent temples found in other morionine taxa.

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

Stereostoma s.lat. lacks many of the characteristics presumed to be derived for typical morionines. The most obvious morionine features of the head, e.g., the prominent temples and emargination of the labrum and clypeus, are not observed in Stereostoma. Several autapomorphies distinguish Stereostoma, including the complete enclosure of the apex of tarsomere 5, apical margin of the labrum with only 4 setae in some species (6 in all other Morionini), and supernumary setae of the pronotal margin (found in some Morion and Moriosomus species). Stereostoma (s.str.) species lack the maxillary and antennal characteristics of Stereostoma (Stereodema) Chaudoir and are most likely paraphyletic relative to Stereodema. No identification key is available for these species. Stereostoma (Stereodema) species (except S. praecellens Müller) are separable using Straneo's (1991) key to species.

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Stereostoma sp.
Location Africa
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Life Cycle Stage Adult
View Dorsal
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 2005 Kipling Will
About This Page

Kipling Will
University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Kipling Will at

Page: Tree of Life Stereostoma. Authored by Kipling Will. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Will, Kipling. 2006. Stereostoma. Version 07 July 2006 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Stereostoma/26968/2006.07.07 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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