Genus Epithalamium Kirkaldy
Epithalamium aziola Kirkaldy
Epithalamium moirae Fletcher
Genus Epithalamium Kirkaldy 1906: 451
Type
species: Epithalamium aziola Kirkaldy 1906, by original designation
Known species: Two endemic Australian species, the type in NSW and WA and E. moirae Fletcher from WA.
Notes: The two species of Epithalamium are the smallest Australian ricaniids reaching up to 5mm in length. E. aziola is rarely collected in NSW despite its original type locality given by Kirkaldy being Sydney. However, Kirkaldy's labelling techniques were not particularly accurate and he often added a hand-written letter to printed labels to indicate a more precise location. He used printed "Sydney" labels to which he added a "P" for Parramatta or an "M" for Mittagong which is 100km from Sydney (see Medler 1987). It is likely that he used one of these printed labels for E. aziola when it was collected somewhere outside the greater metropolitan area of Sydney. The species has been collected near Mt White which is north of Sydney and Tahmoor which is SW of Sydney so it is possible that Kirkaldy's specimens did not actually come from Sydney. Moir, Majer and Fletcher (2003) recorded the species at Jarrahdale, SE of Perth, WA. E. moirae was described from a series of specimens in NMV collected at Collie and the Darling Ranges, WA.