0 American Languriidae

::A REVIEW OF THE NORTH 0 AMERICAN LANGURIIDAE 000000:0-0:PATRIC:It, -:VAURIE:: .: ,.'''.'' ,, '' X. _ .'., '0, '' :. '. 0' . _, ..n- '' ''..g_ : _ -0BULLETIN- 9 :2- OF TH-E AMERIC:kN; MUSEUM-OF NATUR-AL H-ISTORY VOLUM-E-.'b92: ARTICLE.._3 NEW.YORE: 1948 .M A REVIEW OF THE NORTH AMERICAN LANGURIIDAE A REVIEW OF THE NORTH AMERICAN LANGURIIDAE PATRICIA VAURIE Assistant, Department of Insects and Spiders BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOLUME 92: ARTICLE 3 NEW YORK: 1948 BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Volume 92, article 3, pages 119-156, figures 1, 2 Issued November 5, 1948 Price: $0.50 a copy INTRODUCTION ALTHOUGH FAIRLY RECENT WORK has been during the preparation of which about 2000 done on the Languriidae of India (Arrow, specimens were examined, brings together 1925), Africa (Arrow, 1929a), and China the information on the North American spe- (Zia, 1933), the last comprehensive account in cies and genera. It is to be hoped that a re- this country was in 1873 by Crotch. Schaeffer vision of the Central and South American (1904, p. 198) wrote a synoptic table of members of the family will follow at a later Languria, and Blatchley (1910, p. 541) de- date. scribed the species found in Indiana, but I want to thank Mr. John C. Pallister of neither of these works covers all the species of the American Museum of Natural History Languria, or the three other genera. for his encouragement and help in starting Since Crotch's time, six new species of this study. I am especially grateful to Dr. Languria have been named, two species were Mont A. Cazier of the American Museum for transferred to Acropteroxys, the genera Acrop- his advice and constructive criticism. Mr. teroxys and Dasydactylus were set up by Lawrence S. Dillon of the Reading Public Gorham (1887, pp. 13, 14), and the genus Museum and Dr. Milton W. Sanderson of the Langurites was found to occur in Arizona Illinois Natural History Survey have kindly and Florida. In addition, specimens have lent specimens and offered helpful comments; been collected from a great many new places, specimens at the United States National thus enlarging the geographical ranges of Museum were made available by Mr. W. S. nearly every species. New food plants have Fisher and some were lent by Dr. E. S. Ross also been discovered, as well as other data on of the California Academy of Sciences. the habits of these insects. The present paper, HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION The Languriidae were for a long time con- year in which more than one was named was sidered a subfamily of the Erotylidae even 1854 when LeConte described discoidea, though Lewis, as early as 1884, suggested taedata, laeta, and collaris. Other authors of placing them near the Endomychidae as a North American species which still stand are separate family. Arrow (1925, p. 157) also Say (1823), Motschulsky (1860), Horn (1868), recommended they be treated as a family, Schwarz (1878), Fall (1901), Schaeffer (1904), but it was not until 1928 that they received Casey (1916), and Blatchley (1924). family rank and were so listed in Junk's Languria is represented in Central America "Catalogue" (Schenkling: 1) with the two by four additional species. Three species, subfamilies Languriinae and Cladoxeninae. irregularis, laeta, and sanguinicollis, have been Leng and Mutchler (1933, p. 33) placed them found in both North and Central America. as a family in their catalogue and more re- None have been reported from South Amer- cently Blackwelder (1945, p. 425) put the ica. Languriidae in the superfamily Cucujoidea The genus Acropteroxys was not described between the Biphyllidae and the Crypto- until 1887 when Gorham named a Mexican phagidae. species as genotype. But gracilis (Newman) The earliest recorded species of the genus (1838) and lecontei (Crotch), (1873), placed Languria in North America was bicolor originally under Languria, belong in Acrop- (Fabricius) in 1798, followed in 1805 and teroxys. These are the only two species north 1807 by angustata (Beauvois) and mozardi of the Rio Grande; there are four others in Latreille. Both bicolor and angustata appeared Central America and gracilis is found in both first under the name Trogosita. In the next regions. hundred years, 1 more Languria became The genus Dasydactylus was also set up by known and since 1907 three have been added. Gorham at the same time as Acropteroxys, A few of these were made synonymous, mak- also with a Mexican species as genotype. This ing a total of 14 species at present. The only is a Central American genus with 24 de- 123 124 BULLETIN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 92 scribed species, D. cnici Schaeffer (1904) Africa, and South America, but the largest, being the only member yet taken north of most beautiful, and most varied species in- the Mexican border, and it has been found in habit the Indo-Malayan region. There, too, the United States in Texas only. One species is found the largest proportion of the approxi- has been described from South America, mately 400 species that compose this small and Gorham said there were probably others family of beetles. There are none in New Zea- undescribed because of lack of material. land and only a few in Australia. Most curi- Three Central American species became ous is the fact that no langurids are known Motschulsky's basis for a new genus, Langu- from Europe. One would expect them there as rites, in 1860. Crotch, in 1875, made these well as in North America, since many of the synonymous with Languria lineata (Castel- same types of plants occur in which they could nau) (1832), which he then assigned to the bore. Fowler (1886, p. 303) said langurids genus Langurites. There are now only two were not found "very far north or south of the species in the genus, one from Mexico and Tropics," and while it is true that their great- lineatus from North and Central America and est concentration is in the warmer countries, northern South America. some species do exist as far north as Canada Other Languriidae exist in China, Japan, in North America and Tibet in Asia. BIOLOGY In contrast to the Erotylidae, which feed The adults feed on pollen (Wildermuth on fungi, the Languriidae of North America and Gates, 1920) and on the leaves of the are stem borers. The larvae feed in the stems host plant. Lewis (1884, p. 349) reported that of a variety of plants, especially favoring the some langurids mount and cling to the stems Compositae and Leguminosae. The only and leaves of brushwood, or sit on leaves in species whose activities have made it an eco- the moist, half-shaded parts of the forest. nomic pest in North America is Languria According to Ulke (1902, p. 44), North Amer- mozardi which infests red clover in the south- ican Languria "are most frequently found in east and alfalfa in the southwest. In India, swampy meadows." Anadastus parvulus Wiedmann does consider- Specific notes on biology appear under each able injury to Italian millet (Setaria itaica) species in the following pages, but no informa- (Arrow, 1925). The feeding of the larva tion has been found for taedata, erythrocephala, within the stem does not destroy the plant, irregularis, and collaris in Languria, for but interferes with its vitality, making the lecontei in Acropteroxys, or for Langurites quality poor, and sometimes the plant breaks ineatus. off above the oviposition hole. TAXONOMY The subfamily Languriinae is made up of usually flattened, hairy club; the eyes are elongate, narrow, lustrous beetles, somewhat round and finely granulated. The thorax has resembling click beetles (Elateridae) in gen- a short longitudinal depression or line eral aspect. In North America they are usu- each side of the base; the side margins of the ally bicolored (red thorax, dark elytra), and thorax are distinct. Scutellum heart shaped; in Central and South America usually uni- elytra covering the abdomen, which has five colored (bronze, piceous, blue, or green). In segments. The front coxal cavities are open Asia and India they present many combina- behind, separated by a prosternal process. tions but the pattern is always simple, with- The tarsi are five-segmented, but only the out the variegated elytra of the Erotylidae, claw and the flat pads of the first three seg- for instance. The head is immersed in the ments are visible except under strong magni- thorax to the eyes; the eleven-segmented an- fication. The claws are simple. Size small to tennae are inserted at the sides of the front, medium, 3 to 16 mm. All the North American the last five or six segments forming a distinct, species belong in this subfamily. 1948 VAURIE: NORTH AMERICAN LANGURIIDAE 125 The subfamily Cladoxeninae (Arrow, 1925, the legs are slender or stout; the tarsi are p. 253) is not represented in North Amer- bilobed. ica.' It comprises "small species easily recog- An effort has been made in this paper not nisable by the absence of the narrow linear to rely on color for differentiation of species form so characteristic of Languriinae." The where other characters, such as punctuation, antennal club is three-segmented, the seg- shape of the antennal club, shape of the elytra ments bead-like, of equal width and not and of the elytral apices, can be used. The closely united. The eyes are coarsely granu- arrangement of the color, although often vari- lated; the elytra are shorter than in the able, has some significance, but the degrees Languriinae and taper more towards the apex, of color do not. Therefore the terms for color have been generalized: "red" is used for all the varying shades from yellow to dark 1 The genus Pharaxonotha, formerly of the subfamily red; "piceous" is used for all parts which Cladoxeninae, was returned from Languriidae to the appear black to the naked eye.

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