''Antimerus'' is a genus of

rove beetles The rove beetles are a family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra (wing covers) that typically leave more than half of their abdominal segments exposed. With over 66,000 species in thousands of genera, the g ...

found in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Description

''Antimerus'' are relatively large for rove beetles, with adults reaching 13-20 mm in length. They are robust and more or less parallel-sided, with the head approximately the same width as the rest of the body. The

mandibles In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

are relatively long, falcate and usually lack distinct internal teeth. The deflexed hypomera of the

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

are usually visible in lateral view (concealed in '' A. monteithi''). The first four tarsomeres on all legs are broad and bear tenent

setae In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae ...

ventrally, and all tarsi bear one pair of empodial setae. Some species have a metallic appearance. Putative larvae of three species ('' A. metallicus'', '' A. punctipennis'' and '' A. smaragdinus'') are known. They are 8-16 mm long with head widths of 1.5-3.0 mm. The head is large, subquadrate and well-sclerotised. The thorax is much narrower than the head. The abdomen is fusiform and, in well-fed larvae, may be wider in the middle than the head is. The surfaces of the body are generally microspinose or microtuberculate, and covered in fine simple setae. Most macrosetae and many medium-sized setae are club-shaped and have multispinose tips.

Ecology

''Antimerus'' occur in moist forests in the coastal hills and mountain ranges of eastern Australia. At least some species in this genus have diurnal and

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

adults. They have been collected from trees such as '' Argyrodendron actinophyllum'' and ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

'' spp. Larvae have been collected from forest litter.

Species

Below are the species groups and species of ''Antimerus''. Members of the same species groups are similar morphologically and do not overlap in distribution (allopatric). * '' Antimerus auricomus'' Lea, 1925 - southern Queensland, New South Wales * '' Antimerus bellus'' Solodovnikov & Newton, 2010 - New South Wales * '' Antimerus gracilis'' Solodovnikov & Newton, 2010 - northern Queensland * '' Antimerus jamesrodmani'' Solodovnikov & Newton, 2010 - southern Queensland * '' Antimerus metallicus'' Solodovnikov & Newton, 2010 - northern Queensland * '' Antimerus monteithi'' Solodovnikov & Newton, 2010 - southern Queensland, northern New South Wales * ''

Antimerus posttibialis ''Antimerus'' is a genus of Rove beetle, rove beetles found in eastern Australia. Description ''Antimerus'' are relatively large for rove beetles, with adults reaching 13-20 mm in length. They are robust and more or less parallel-sided, with t ...

'' Lea, 1925 - northern Queensland * '' Antimerus punctipennis'' Lea, 1906 - southern Queensland, New South Wales * '' Antimerus smaragdinus'' Fauvel, 1878 - southern New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q19612639 Staphylinidae genera Staphylininae