Aphelocheirus kawamurae (Matsumura, 1915:104)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Aphelochirus takeuchii Esaki, 1934:26 [synonymised with A. kawamurae by (Miyamoto, 1973:571)]
Conservation Status
Missing
Last record: 1962
"The hemipteran Aphelocheirus kawamurae lived in the bottom of Lake Biwa as well as in the sandy bottom of the Lake Biwa Canal. Since the 1960's, it has never been found and is designated as Critically Endangered in the Red List of Japan's Ministry of the Environment (2017). As of little information on its ecology, the reason of its disappearance is unclear. But the major reason of the decrease of indigenous aquatic insects is considered to be the reclamation of the attached lakes or naiko, eutrophication, construction of levees on the shore and decrease of water levels in the long run since 1960's, and the summer drought caused by the water-level control since 1992." (Nishino, 2020:173)
Distribution
Lake Biwa (southern), Shiga Prefecture, Honshu (west-central)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Matsumura, S. (1915). Uebersicht der Wasser-Hemipteren von Japan und Formosa 1: 103-119. Entomological Magazine.
Other references:
Esaki, T. (1934). New or unrecorded aquatic Heteroptera from Japan and Saghalien 7: 26-29. Mushi.
Esaki, T. (1950). Hemiptera: Heteroptera. In: Iconographia Insectorum Japonicorum, 2nd edn: 179-270. Hokuryukan, Tokyo.
Hidaka, T. (1965). A list of the Formosan Lygaeidae collected by Dr. T. Shirôzu 1: 222-225. Special Bulletin of the Lepidopterological Society of Japan.
Kanyukova, E. V., Aukema, Berend and Christian Rieger (eds.). (1995). Family Aphelocheiridae. Catalogue of the Heteroptera of the Palaearctic Region, vol. 1: Enicocephalomorpha, Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha and Leptopodomorpha. 60-63.
Lee, C. E. (1991). Morphological and phylogenetic studies on the true waterbugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) 21(2): 1-183. Nature and Life.
Miyamoto, S. (1973). Hemiptera. In: Kawamura's Freshwater Biology of Japan (M. Uéno, ed.): 567-575. Hokuryukan, Tokyo.
Miyamoto, S. and Hidaka, T. (1965). Hemiptera (Heteroptera). In: Iconographia insectorum japonicorum colore naturale edita (H. Inoue, ed.) 3: 75-108. Hokuryukan, Tokyo.
Nishino, Machiko. (2020). 2.5.7 Aquatic Insects, p. 173. In: Kawanabe, Hiroya , Nishino, Machiko and Maehata, Masayoshi (eds.). Lake Biwa: Interactions Between Nature and People, Second Edition. Springer International Publishing.
http://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/20367/aphelocheirus-kawamurae
https://catpalhet.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/nsr_taxon.php?id=424&epi=1