Genus
Rhysopleura
1 species
*Rhysopleura* is a monotypic Australian endemic genus known from Queensland, where its single species inhabits open, rocky or stony ground. The genus is immediately recognizable among Australian tiger beetles by its distinctively wrinkled elytral sculpture. Its subtribal placement within Cicindelina remains uncertain.
Diagnosis
DIAGNOSIS — *Rhysopleura* Sloane, 1906. Monotypic; body ~11 mm, metallic, oval (L:W < 2.0). Elytra with strongly wrinkled sculpture (lateral surface); labrum transverse; eyes large; fully winged. Larvae in soil crevices of rocky substrates. Separated from sympatric Australian Cicindelina by wrinkled elytral sculpture; aedeagus additionally diagnostic. No confusion genera recorded.
Etymology
From Greek *rhysós* (wrinkled) + *pleurá* (side) — "wrinkled-sided".
Species (1)
Distribution map — GBIF occurrences
GBIF · © OpenStreetMap · © CartoDB
Overview
*Rhysopleura* is a monotypic Australian endemic genus known from Queensland, where its single species inhabits open, rocky or stony ground. The genus is immediately recognizable among Australian tiger beetles by its distinctively wrinkled elytral sculpture. Its subtribal placement within Cicindelina remains uncertain.
Type species: Cicindela orbicollis Sloane, 1906 [by monotypy]
1. Wiesner, J. (2020) — checklist 2. Sloane, T.G. (1906) — original genus description 3. Duran, D.P. & Gough, H.M. (2020) — Validation of tiger beetles as distinct family (Cicindelidae) and reclassification within Coleoptera. Systematic Entomology 45(4): 723-729. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12440 [validates Cicindelidae as separate family] 4. Gough, H.M., Duran, D.P., Kawahara, A.Y. & Toussaint, E.F.A. (2018) — A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelinae). Systematic Entomology 43(3): 567-586. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12324 [ML phylogeny of 328 taxa, 9 gene regions] 5. Wiesner, J. (2020) — Checklist of the Tiger Beetles of the World, 2nd edition (Verzeichnis der Sandlaufkäfer der Welt, 27. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Cicindelidae). Winterwork, Borsdorf, 534 pp. [Authoritative current world checklist] 6. Horn, W. (1908, 1910, 1915) — Coleoptera Adephaga, fam. Carabidae, subfam. Cicindelinae. In: Wytsman, P. (Ed.) Genera Insectorum, fascicles 82a, 82b, 82c. L. Desmet-Verteneuil, Bruxelles. BHL bibliography/45481 [foundational historical monograph of Cicindelidae, treating all genera known at the time]
Living Book · World Monograph 2026
Genera and Subgenera of Tiger Beetles
240 genera · 3,715 taxa · 194-character matrix · 12 months free updates