Pachyrhamma | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Orthoptera |
Suborder: | Ensifera |
Family: | Rhaphidophoridae |
Subfamily: | Macropathinae |
Genus: | Pachyrhamma Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 |
Species | |
See text. |
Pachyrhamma is a genus of cave weta (New Zealand cave cricket, tokoriro) in the family Rhaphidophoridae, endemic to New Zealand.[1]
Cook et al. (2010) found that Gymnoplectron and Turbottoplectron are synonymised with Pachyrhamma.[1] They follow W.F. Kirby (1906) and Karny (1937) in treating Pachyrhamma as a neuter noun.
Members of the genus are detritivorous scavengers that inhabit dark, damp refugia such as hollow logs, overhangs and caves during the day.[2] They become more active at night and venture into the surrounding undergrowth to forage.[2] They consume various organic matter such as plant seeds, fungi, animal droppings, and dead animal tissue.[2] They will cannibalise the remains of other dead weta, and may also attack still-living cave weta while they are vulnerable during ecdysis (shedding their exoskeleton).[2]
When Pachyrhamma is treated as a neuter noun, species names have a neuter suffix, e.g. -ceras rather than -cera, and -ense rather than -ensis.