Eleodes extricatus ( Say, 1823 )

Triplehorn, Charles A. & Thomas, Donald B., 2015, A Revision of Eleodes Subgenus Litheleodes Blaisdell (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin (mo 14) 69, pp. 11-21 : 16-18

Eleodes extricatus ( Say, 1823)

( Figs. 11–12 , Map 4 )

Blaps extricata Say 1823: 261 .

Eleodes cognata Haldeman 1852: 376 .

Eleodes extricata: Melsheimer 1853: 134 .

Eleodes (Eleodes) extricata: Horn 1870: 309 .

Eleodes (Litheleodes) extricata arizonensis Blaisdell 1909: 116 .

Eleodes (Litheleodes) extricata forma cognata: Blaisdell 1909: 121 , pl. 1, fig. 12.

Eleodes (Litheleodes) extricata forma cognata punctata: Blaisdell 1909: 123.

Eleodes (Litheleodes) extricata forma convexicollis

Blaisdell 1909: 123 (nec Walker, 1866). Eleodes (Litheleodes) extricata forma elongata

Blaisdell 1909: 123. Eleodes extricata utahensis Blaisdell 1921b: 131 . Eleodes extricata cognata: Blaisdell 1921b: 132 . Eleodes extricata convexicollis: Blaisdell 1921b: 132 . Eleodes (Litheleodes) extricata cognata: Gebien

1938: 53. Eleodes extricata frigida La Rivers 1943: 54 . Eleodes extricata punctata: Papp 1961: 112 . Eleodes cognata: Tanner and Tanner 1974: 219 . Eleodes extricata convexinotus Thomas 2005: 551

[new name for convexicollis ].

Diagnosis. Small to medium-sized. Black, shiny; females elongate-ovate, males elongate fusiform. Males almost always with a conspicuous tooth on inner side of profemur and pencil of golden setae at apex of the plantar groove of probasitarsomere. Female with profemur, at most, simply arcuate on inner side and plantar groove of probasitarsomere open. Elytra glabrous or muricate.

Measurements. Males: length 12–15 mm; width 4.2–6.5 mm. Females: length 11.0– 17.6 mm; width 4.5–7.8 mm.

Types. Blaps extricata : not seen, presumed lost, from Arkansas and Platte. Eleodes cognata : not seen. Eleodes arizonensis : holotype, female (CASC No.2824), Fort Huachuca, Arizona, a unique. Eleodes utahensis : holotype, female (CASC No. 2830) and allotype, male (CASC No. 2831), Milford, Utah. Eleodes convexicollis : holotype, female (CASC No. 2941), Laramie, Wyoming; allotype, male (CASC No. 2942), Conrad, Montana. Eleodes extricata frigida : not seen, Clark County, Nevada, above Kyle Gorge Spring (Charleston Mts.), June, 1937, 10,000 feet, Ira La Rivers.

Distribution. This is one of the most widespread and abundant species of Eleodes ( Map 4 ). It ranges from British Columbia to southern Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada to Sonora and Chihuahua in northern Mexico. In the United States, it is found from western Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas to eastern Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. There are a few scattered records for California. Individual locality records are too numerous to list here.

Remarks. This species varies considerably in size, luster, and elytral punctation, sometimes within a single population. It is distributed from southwestern Canada to northern Mexico, and at a wide range of elevations. Not surprisingly, at least six forms have received formal taxonomic designations. Blaisdell (1942) recognized five subspecies, some of which he previously had treated as forms or varieties. Tanner (1961) recognized the same five subspecies plus E. extricatus frigida La Rivers , who

14) E. hirtipennis ♀; 15) E. papillosus ♂; 16) E. papillosus ♀.

repeated Blaisdell’ s distribution records and added many new ones. Boddy (1965) considered E. cognata a distinct species and indicated that it “is apparently sympatric with E. e. extricata in at least part of its range.”

We have been unable to accept the application of a subspecies concept to this species. We have studied large series of specimens, many collected by us, from numerous localities throughout its range, and our interpretation is that it is best treated as a single polymorphic species. In the typical form, the elytral punctation is coarse and dense, sometimes confluent to rugose, often with a serial arrangement, and the entire upper surface is shiny. This is the prevailing form in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and the Great Plains states. The form described by Blaisdell as E. extricatus utahensis (originally as a variety, later as a subspecies) is dull, alutaceous, and smooth, with fine, inconspicuous, muricate punctures. It is the usual form found in Utah and Arizona. Eleodes extricatus frigidus appears to be an even smoother form of E. extricatus utahensis . It is known only from specimens collected at 3,050 m in the Spring Mountains, Clark County, Nevada. The form E. cognatus has been considered a form, variety, subspecies, and valid species by various workers. It appears to us to be an intermediate form in luster and punctation between the typical form and E. utahensis . The most distinctive form is E. extricatus arizonensis , which has the elytra costate on alternate intervals, with the intervening intervals wide. We have seen many individuals, sometimes entire series, satisfying that description. This variation is known from populations in the Huachuca and Santa Rita Mountains in southeastern Arizona, and in the Zuni and San Francisco Mountains in western New Mexico, but within these series are individuals inseparable from the nominate “subspecies” as well as intermediates. The form E. extricatus convexinotus is very small with the pronotum more convex than usual, and the profemora are not always dentate in the male; the elytron is sparsely muricate on the sides, otherwise, it is similar to the typical form. Blaisdell reported it from Laramie, Wyoming and Montana (no specific locality). Tanner (1961) added Park County, Wyoming and the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, Montana. We have seen specimens from Three Forks and Glacier National Park, Montana; Platte, Weston, and Albany Counties, Wyoming. In Canada, specimens have been taken near Empress and Stavely, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and from numerous localities in British Columbia.

La Rivers (1943) found them feeding on rootstocks of legumes in montane pine-fir forest. Kirk and Balsbaugh (1975) found them in South Dakota in wheatfields, also under cow pats and stones on sod. Natural enemies include carabid beetles (Cress and Lawson 1971) and rodents (Parmenter and MacMahon 1988). The larval stage was described by Smith et al. (2014).

Figures

Figs. 11–16. Litheleodes species, dorsal habitus. 11) E. extricatus ♂; 12) E. extricatus ♀; 13) E. hirtipennis ♂;

Maps 1–5. Distributional records for Eleodes species. 1) E. arcuatus; 2) E. asperus and E. granulatus; 3) E. corvinus, E. hirtipennis, and E. subtuberculatus; 4) E. extricatus; 5) E. letcheri and E. papillosus.