Evidence for the continued presence in New Zealand of Homotrysismacleayi (Borchmann, 1909) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae)
Author
Thorpe, Stephen E.
text
Biodiversity Data Journal
2014
2
1054
1054
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.2.e1054
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.2.e1054
1314-2828-2-1054
Homotrysis macleayi (Borchmann, 1909)
Allecula macleayi
Borchmann, 1909 (original combination)
Allecula flavicornis
Macleay, 1887 (objective synonym)
Materials
Type status:
Other material
. Occurrence: recordedBy:
S.E. Thorpe
; individualCount:
1
; Taxon: scientificName: Homotrysismacleayi (Borchmann, 1909); Location: country:
New Zealand
; stateProvince: Auckland; verbatimLocality: Auckland Domain; verbatimLatitude:
36.86385S
; verbatimLongitude:
174.77501E
; Identification: identifiedBy: Stephen E. Thorpe; Event: samplingProtocol:
On trunk of Eucalyptus tree at night
; eventDate:
2004-04-28
; Record Level: institutionCode:
Auckland Museum
; collectionCode:
AMNZ57969
Type status:
Other material
. Occurrence: recordedBy:
S.E. Thorpe
; individualCount:
3
; Taxon: scientificName: Homotrysismacleayi (Borchmann, 1909); Location: country:
New Zealand
; stateProvince: Auckland; verbatimLocality: Tamaki Campus (East), suburb of Saint Johns, Auckland; verbatimLatitude:
36.88615S
; verbatimLongitude:
174.85258E
; Identification: identifiedBy: Eric G. Matthews; Event: samplingProtocol:
Under loose bark of chopped up wattle tree (possibly Paraserianthes lophantha)
; eventDate:
2012-03-08
; Record Level: institutionCode:
Auckland Museum
; collectionCode:
AMNZ86134 (
1 specimen
)
Type status:
Other material
. Occurrence: recordedBy:
S.E. Thorpe
; individualCount:
1
; Taxon: scientificName: Homotrysismacleayi (Borchmann, 1909); Location: country:
New Zealand
; stateProvince: Auckland; verbatimLocality: Tamaki Campus (East), suburb of Saint Johns, Auckland; verbatimLatitude:
36.88216S
; verbatimLongitude:
174.85331E
; Identification: identifiedBy: Stephen E. Thorpe; Event: samplingProtocol:
Under bark of Pittosporum eugenioides stump, at edge of carpark.
; eventDate:
2013-05-05
; Record Level: institutionCode:
Auckland Museum
; collectionCode:
AMNZ87636
Type status:
Other material
. Occurrence: recordedBy:
S.E. Thorpe
; individualCount:
1
; Taxon: scientificName: Homotrysismacleayi (Borchmann, 1909); Location: country:
New Zealand
; stateProvince: Auckland; verbatimLocality: Tamaki Campus (East), suburb of Saint Johns, Auckland; verbatimLatitude:
36.88100S
; verbatimLongitude:
174.85310E
; Identification: identifiedBy: Stephen E. Thorpe; Event: samplingProtocol:
On dead tree fern frond, on ground, by pond
; eventDate:
2014-01-09
; Record Level: institutionCode:
Auckland Museum
; collectionCode:
AMNZ87720
Diagnosis
Homotrysis macleayi
is easily recognised as an alleculine tenebrionid. Fig. 3 shows the diagnostic pectinate alleculine claw. The few other alleculines present in New Zealand are all lacking a dorsal vestiture of dense setae.
Distribution
I have now collected
Homotrysis macleayi
on four separate occasions, spread over a number of years (2004, 2012, 2013, and 2014), at two sites in the vicinity of metropolitan Auckland (Auckland Domain, and the Tamaki Campus of the University of Auckland). Figs 1, 2, 3, 4 show the most recent (2014) specimen. I am not aware of any additional records from New Zealand.
Ecology
Little or nothing is known of the ecology of
Homotrysis macleayi
. I have collected it on a trunk of a
Eucalyptus
tree at night, under the bark of a chopped up wattle tree (by which
Ministry for Primary Industries 2013
assumed that I meant
Acacia
, but which could have just as easily been brush wattle,
Paraserianthes lophantha
), under the bark of a stump of the native tree
Pittosporum eugenioides
at the edge of a carpark, and on the ground on a dead tree fern frond. I have only collected the species from anthropogenic habitats in metropolitan Auckland.