ARTICLE First report of Austroporus doctus (Blackburn) from New Zealand and description of its larva (Coleoptera: Phalacridae) Matthew L. Gimmel¹ & Richard A.B. Leschen² ¹ Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Santa Barbara, California, United States. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7851-5088. E-mail: [email protected] (corresponding author) ² New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC). Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. Auckland, New Zealand. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8549-8933. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. The Australian species Austroporus doctus (Blackburn) is reported from New Zealand for the first time. Adults are illustrated and diagnosed, and late-instar larvae are fully described and illustrated. In addition, a summary of prior larval descriptions of Phalacridae is provided. This represents the first description of the morphology and habitat of the larvae within the genus Austroporus Gimmel and the Olibroporus-group of genera. Austroporus doctus is native to eastern Australia, where adults are distinguished from similar species by characters of the male genitalia and by a suite of external morphological features. There are no native members of Phalacridae known from New Zealand, but A. doctus represents the second introduced and established species there. A key is given to differentiate adult and larval A. doctus from the other introduced New Zealand species, Phalacrus uniformis (Blackburn). Key-Words. Cucujoidea; Immature stages; Australian region; Shining mold beetles. INTRODUCTION based on coloration. We take the opportunity here to identify the species involved and to de- The beetle family Phalacridae, with 33 gen- scribe its larva. era and about 650 described species (Gimmel, The genus Austroporus Gimmel belongs to 2013, 2017, personal data), is distributed nearly the Olibroporus-group of genera as defined worldwide. Notably, no phalacrids have been by Gimmel (2013, 2017), which includes the reported from Chile, and no native phalacrids Australasian Austroporus, the Western Australian have been reported from New Zealand. One in- Platyphalacrus Gimmel, and the New World troduced subspecies, Phalacrus uniformis frigori- Olibroporus Casey (including Pycinus Guillebeau). cola Thompson & Marshall, 1980, was reported to The immature stages of members of this group be established in the North Island (Thompson & have not previously been described. Marshall, 1980). Adults and larvae of most members of the fam- ily appear to be associated with fungi, though a MATERIAL AND METHODS significant number of species are associated with pollen of seed plants as adults, while their larvae This study was based on the detailed ex- apparently feed on plant fluids (Steiner, 1984; amination of 12 larvae and 65 adult specimens Gimmel, 2013). Phalacrus u. frigoricola was report- of Austroporus from the following institutions: ed to feed within the galls of Uromycladium no- ANIC: Australian National Collection of Insects, tabile (Ludwig) McAlpine and U. acaciae (Cooke) Canberra, Australia; BMNH: The Natural History Sydow on Acacia mearnsii DeWildemann in New Museum, London, UK; MLGC: Matthew L. Gimmel Zealand (Thompson & Marshall, 1980). collection, Santa Barbara, California; NZAC: New Recently, fresh adult and larval specimens of Zealand Arthropod Collection, Manaaki Whenua, a phalacrid with a remarkably similar habitat to Auckland, New Zealand. P. u. frigoricola, occurring with the seed pods of Double slashes (“//”) are used to separate in- Acacia longifolia (Andrews) Willd., were found formation from separate labels, and single slashes in Northland, New Zealand. However, the adults (“/”) used to separate lines within a label for verba- were readily recognized as a different species tim label data on the syntype. Pap. Avulsos Zool., 2020; v.60.special-issue: e202060(s.i.).29 ISSN On-Line: 1807-0205 http://doi.org/10.11606/1807-0205/2020.60.special-issue.29 ISSN Printed: 0031-1049 http://www.revistas.usp.br/paz ISNI: 0000-0004-0384-1825 http://www.scielo.br/paz Edited by: Sônia A. Casari / Gabriel Biffi Received: 07/11/2019 Accepted: 31/01/2020 Published: 04/03/2020 Pap. Avulsos Zool., 2020; v.60.special-issue: e202060(s.i.).29 Gimmel, M.L. & Leschen, R.A.B.: Austroporus doctus in New Zealand 2/8 Dry-mounted adults were imaged using a Canon Yuraygir National Park, Station Creek, 20 November EOS 7D with an MPE 65 mm lens mounted on a Cognisys 1982, J. & E. Doyen (2, ANIC); Queensland: 2 km SE of StackShot. Specimens were examined and aedeagal im- Paluma, 18°59′S, 146°09′E, at light, rainforest, 17 January ages were obtained using a Zeiss SteREO Discovery.V20 1970, Britton & Misko (3, ANIC); Ewan Road, ca. 8 km W with planapochromatic lenses and a 3.5× objective with of Paluma, at light, 8 January 1967, J.G. Brooks (1, ANIC); 10× oculars. All source images were stacked in Helicon 13 km NW of Kuranda, 6 December 1982, J. Doyen (1, Focus 6.8.0. The aedeagus was dissected using warm ANIC); Black Mountain Road, 10 mi N of Kuranda, 8 distilled water, then the abdomen was treated in a 10% March 1969, J.G. Brooks (1, ANIC); Cunninghams Gap potassium hydroxide solution. Genital sclerites were im- National Park, 4 km W of Summit, 27-28 November 1982, aged in glycerol on a microscope slide, then re-mounted J. Doyen (1, ANIC); Bunya Mountains, 3 km from summit with pinned specimens on rectangular clear plastic cards on Kingaroy Road, 26°50′S, 151°33′E, at light, 6 January in a drop of dimethylhydantoin formaldehyde resin. For 1970, Britton, Holloway, Misko (1, ANIC); 4 km E of Mount larvae, images were captured through a Leica MZ-12.5 Mowbullan, ex low bushes, 18-21 November 1986, C. stereomicroscope, a Leica DC500 digital camera, and Reid (1, ANIC); Pine Creek, near Bundaberg, 10 December Helicon Focus software. Further photo processing was 1975, H. Frauca (1, ANIC). done using the software packages Adobe® PhotoShop® and CorelDRAW® graphics suite. Processing of line draw- Larval material examined (all late instar). NEW ings was done using Adobe® Illustrator. ZEALAND: Northland: Henderson Bay, 34.744°S, 173.031°E, ex Acacia longifolia, 11 December 2018, leg. Richard Hill (9 in EtOH, 1 slide-mounted, NZAC; 2 in glyc- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION erol, MLGC). Subfamily Phalacrinae Leach, 1815 Adult diagnosis: Austroporus doctus may be recog- Olibroporus-group (sensu Gimmel, 2013) nized among other species of the genus by the relatively Austroporus Gimmel, 2013 small size (1.9-2.7 mm), elytral disc (Figs. 1, 3) with red V-shaped maculation, hind femur without subapical ex- Austroporus doctus (Blackburn, 1895) pansion (Fig. 2), elytra with diffraction grating, grooves around the dorsal margin of the eye (Fig. 4), dense se- Parasemus doctus Blackburn, 1895: 212; Lea, 1932: 481. tation on the central part of the prosternum (much Austroporus doctus: Gimmel, 2013: 61. denser than on metaventral process), and by the male genitalia (Figs. 5-8). A probably undescribed species of Type locality: Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Austroporus from several localities in eastern Cape York Australia (according to original description). One syn- Peninsula in Queensland (20 specimens examined, de- type examined, card-mounted, unsexed, with the data “T posited in ANIC) is similar in appearance, but with the red / 5947 / N.S.W. [red handwriting] // Type / H.T. // Australia. maculation concentrated around the elytral suture and / Blackburn Coll. / B.M. 1910-236. // Parasemus / doctus, not extending onto the elytral disc, and markedly differ- Blackb. [handwritten]”, deposited in BMNH. Another syn- ent male genitalia. type specimen was apparently mounted on the same card, but was not located (M. Barclay, pers. comm.). Larva description: Length: 3.46-4.92 mm. Body (Fig. 14) dorsoventrally compressed, with thoracic segments Adult material examined: NEW ZEALAND: Northland: slightly narrower than abdominal segments, all thoracic Waiharara, Big Flat Road, 34.919°S, 173.180°E, ex Acacia tergites and abdominal tergites I-VII weakly pigmented; longifolia, 11 December 2018, leg. Richard Hill (16, NZAC; abdominal segment I slightly wider than thoracic seg- 2, ANIC; 5, MLGC). AUSTRALIA: Australian Capital ments, narrower than abdominal segment II, segments Territory: 5 km NE of Canberra, sheltering and in II-VI about equal in width, segment VII narrower than VI; Uromycladium galls on Acacia, 22 August 1993, S. Neser (8, each abdominal segment laterally rounded and some- ANIC); Wombat Creek, 6 km NE of Piccadilly Circus, 750 m, what lobate, widest just posterior to middle; segment flight intercept window/trough trap, January 1984, Weir, VIII elongate, gradually narrowed posteriorly, more dark- Lawrence, Johnson (1, ANIC); New South Wales: 3 km S ly sclerotized near posterior margin; segment IX very of Mongarlowe, 35°27′S, 149°57′E, December 1987, M.E. short, bearing prominent, darkly pigmented, paired uro- Irwin (1, ANIC); Border Range National Park, Lophostemon gomphi; vestiture of sparsely distributed long setae. Falls, ex Acacia melanoxylon, 22 November 1986, C. Reid Head (Figs. 15-17) transverse (about 0.6 times as (1, ANIC); Brisbane Water National Park, Warrah Trig, 21 long as wide), emarginate posteriorly above occipital January 1986, D.B. McCorquodale (3, ANIC); Kioloa State foramen; ecdysial lines widely separate at base, fron- Forest, 15 km NE of Batemans Bay, 35°30′S, 150°18′E, tal arms lyriform. Median endocarina weakly indicated, flight intercept trap, February 1987, M.G. Robinson (1, short, unpaired. Stemmata (Fig. 17) relatively large, not ANIC); Lorien Wildlife Refuge, 3 km N of Lansdowne/ well separated, with well-developed lenses, 4 or more Taree, ex r/f margin, Malaise trap, 18-25 October 1987, on each side, an anterior curved row of two or three, G. Williams (1, ANIC); Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, and two lying behind them, located on elevated area. Platypus Flat, 16 November 1982, J. Doyen (13, ANIC); Antenna (Fig. 9) about one-third as long as head width, Gimmel, M.L. & Leschen, R.A.B.: Austroporus doctus in New Zealand Pap.