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The Coleopterists Society
Larval Host Plants of Some Australian Mordellidae (Coleoptera)
Author(s): G. A. Webb
Source:
The Coleopterists Bulletin,
Vol. 41, No. 4 (Dec., 1987), p. 343
Published by: The Coleopterists Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4008513 .
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THE COLEOPTERISTS BULLETIN 41(4), 1987 343
LITERATURE
CITED
SWAINE,
J. M. 1918. Canadian
bark-beetles.
II. A preliminary
classification,
with an
account
of the habits and means of control. Can. Dept. Agr. Div. Ent. Bull. 14:
1-143.
WOOD,
S. L. 1982. The bark and ambrosia beetles of North and Central
America
(Coleoptera:
Scolytidae),
a taxonomic
monograph.
Gt. Basin Nat. Mem.
6. 1,359 pp.
* 1986. New synonymy
and new species of American
bark beetles (Coleoptera:
Scolytidae),
Part XI. Gt. Basin Nat. 46:265-273.
(Received 12 November 1986; accepted 14 July 1987)
SCIENTIFIC NOTE
LARVAL HOST PLANTS OF SOME AUSTRALIAN MORDELLIDAE (COLEOPrERA)
The larvae of Mordellidae are primarily borers of dead, often decayed, wood (Crowson
1981) though living stems and insect galls may also be attacked by some Mordellistena.
In Australia, there have been no larval host plants recorded for endemic mordellid species.
This note provides larval host records for two species of Mordella, M. sydneyana Black-
bum and M. inusitata Blackburn.
On 6 October 1986, sections of Casuarina cunninghamiana Miq. (Casuarinaceae)
timber, all heavily infested with cerambycid borers, were collected from the Warrum-
bungle National Park near Coonabarabran, New South Wales. These sections were stored
under controlled temperature conditions in the laboratory in Sydney. During 20-31
October, eight M. sydneyana emerged from the timber. Emergence holes were spherical
and ca. 1.5 mm wide. On 7 November, larvae were extracted from the outer sapwood-
cambial region of some sections of timber. Unfortunately the boring pattern was obscured
by the presence of large numbers of cerambycid tunnels in this region.
The Forestry Commission of New South Wales insect collection has two records of
M. inusitata attacking timber at Sydney. On 6 August 1963 Mr. E. Taylor collected
larvae and reared adults from a decayed stump of an introduced species of Pinus. On
30 October 1969 Mr. P. Meadows collected larvae of an unidentified Mordella sp.
(probably inusitata) from decayed Douglas Fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco,
timber.
LITERATURE CITED
CROWSON, R. A. 1981. The Biology of the Coleoptera. Academic Press, London.
G. A. Webb, Forestry Commission of New South Wales, P.O. Box 100, Beecroft,
N.S. W. 2119, Australia.
(Received 5 May 1987; accepted 6 May 1987)