Uracanthus froggatti Blackburn, 1894

Thongphak, Duangrat & Wang, Qiao, 2007, Taxonomic revision of the longicorn beetle genus Uracanthus Hope 1833 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Uracanthini) from Australia., Zootaxa 1569 (1569), pp. 1-139 : 57-58

Uracanthus froggatti Blackburn, 1894

(Figs 47, 85, 108)

Uracanthus froggatti Blackburn, 1894: 106 .— Froggatt, 1894: 116; Aurivillius, 1912: 147; Lea, 1916: 385; McKeown, 1947: 64; Duffy, 1963: 116.

Description

Male. Body length, 15.48–18.99 mm; width, 2.23–3.26 mm.

Colour (Fig. 47). Body dark reddish brown with head, thorax and basal elytra darker. Head with fairly dense white pubescence; thorax and basal elytra with dense white pubescence; pronotal disc with 3 vague and not well-defined, longitudinal, glabrous lines. Elytra with fairly dense white pubescence of uneven distribution, giving an appearance of irregular pubescent patterns; elytra apex with very dense white pubescences.

Head. Postclypeus triangular, convex, with shiny and smooth surface; frontoclypeal suture deep and wide in middle; distance between lower lobes of eyes 1.63–1.71 × as long as distance between upper lobes of eyes; distance between upper lobes of eyes 1.0–1.2 × as long as distance between eyes on ventral side; genal length 0.56–0.57 × as long as head width immediately below eyes. Antennae slightly shorter than body; segments 4– 10 thin and subcylindrical, and slightly produced on one side at apex.

Thorax and abdomen. Pronotum 1.26–1.34 × as long as width, rounded at side; posterior margin 1.15– 1.30 × as wide as anterior margin; pronotal disc weakly binodulose in middle area; disc and side rugose transversely. Rugae on pronotal disc may vary from very distinct to vague. Scutellum semicircular, with dense pubescence. Elytra 4.60–4.97 ×as long as prothorax and 4.20–4.77 × as long as shoulder width; longitudinal carinae on disc not obvious; disc with fine punctures; apex more or less truncate. Apex of terminal sternite rounded with a small notch.

Male terminalia. Apex of ventral and dorsal median lobes narrowly rounded or slightly pointed; ventral lobe shorter than dorsal lobe; basal unspined region of internal sac with wave-like patterns throughout, about as long as spined region; spined region with fairly dense long simple spines and sparse multi-branched ( Fig. 85a). Eighth sternite obliquely truncate at side, widely emarginate at apex, with long and fairly long setae arising terminally, ventral surface with sparse cloud-like processes ( Fig. 85b). Eighth tergite semicircular in shape and rounded at apex, with fairly dense basally-forked spines on dorsal surface ( Fig. 85c). Paramere short, as long as wide, cylindrical in shape, apex rounded with long and short setae ( Fig. 85d).

Female. Body length, 14.46–15.82 mm; width, 2.17–2.40 mm

Body more robust; antennae and legs shorter. Elytra 5.30–5.27 × as long as prothorax and 4.64–5.15 × as long as shoulder width.

Ovipositor and spermatheca. Ovipositor very short; styli arising terminally with short and long hairs ( Fig. 85e). Spermatheca curved; spermathecal gland long and arising near base ( Fig. 85f).

Distribution Southeastern Queensland and eastern New South Wales ( Fig. 108).

Biology

The known host is Lasiopetalum ferrugineum . Adults emerge in April. Larvae feed in the stems of the host, completely hollowing them for a considerable length, and usually cutting the branch off before pupating, and forming a cell at the end of the gallery. Adults were collected in November by light trap.

Comments

This species resembles U. parallelus but differs in having pubescence on the elytral disc unevenly distributed and the elytral apex truncate.

Material examined

Paratype. 2 ♂. NSW: 1 ♂, Coll. no. I. 5489, no abdomen ( SAM) ; 1 ♂, Coll. no. 5170, bearing a blue paratype label; left antenna missing ( NMV). The holotype is supposed to be in BMNH according to McKeown (1947) but could not be located .

Other material examined. 3 ♂, 2 ♀. QLD: 1 ♂, Toowoomba, R. Illidge ( UQIC) . NSW: 1 ♀, Coogee , 8.x.1925, F. A. McNell ( AM) ; 1 ♀, Sydney ( ASCU) ; 1 ♂, no locality, 20.iv.1893, bred from Lasiopetalum ferrugineum, Froggatt (ANIC) ; 1 ♂, Thomas River , 23 km NW by W of Mt. Arid, 4–7.xi.1977, at light, J. F. Lawrence ( ANIC) .