Tenomerga cinerea, (SAY)

Johnson, Paul J. & Hesler, Lauren A., 2016, Tenomerga cinerea (Say) (Coleoptera: Cupedidae), a New South Dakota State Record for the Family, The Coleopterists Bulletin 70 (1), pp. 194-195 : 194-195

TENOMERGA CINEREA (SAY) ( COLEOPTERA : CUPEDIDAE ), A NEW SOUTH DAKOTA STATE RECORD FOR THE FAMILY

PAUL J. JOHNSON Insect Biodiversity Lab., South Dakota State University Brookings, SD 57007, U.S.A.

AND

LAUREN A. HESLER USDA-APHIS-PPQ, South Dakota State University Brookings, SD 57007, U.S.A.

Tenomerga cinerea (Say) is the only North American representative of its genus and one of four species of Cupedidae reported from the continent (Neboiss 1984; Young 2001). Atkins (1979) summarized the distribution of this species, as Cupes concolor Westwood , in southeastern Canada and the eastern USA. Most of the state and provincial occurrence records listed for T. cinerea are east of the Mississippi River, with the exception of Iowa. This latter record comes from Wickham (1911), who reported it as C. concolor from Cedar County in eastern Iowa. Kirk and Balsbaugh (1975) did not include any representative of the Cupedidae from South Dakota. Here, we report two localities of T. cinerea from South Dakota, thus documenting this species and family with a westward range extension of approximately 500 km (ca. 300 mi.) of longitude, and providing a new state record and regional occurrence in the northern Great Plains.

Two specimens of T. cinerea were collected in South Dakota during 2014. One specimen came to a mercury vapor light operated by the first author at SOUTH DAKOTA, Roberts County, Hartford Beach State Park, 45.405°N − 96.667°W, 24.vii.2014, P.J. Johnson (1, SDSU). The collection site was dominated by bur oak ( Quercus macrocarpa Michx. ), boxelder ( Acer negundo L.), and green ash ( Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall ). Hartford Beach State Park is located at the southern end of Big Stone Lake, near the border of Minnesota and South Dakota. The general habitat is more or less continuous with the same woodland community along the Minnesota River Valley extending into eastern and southern Minnesota.

The second specimen was found during a survey for the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire ( Coleoptera : Buprestidae ). The second author recovered a specimen of T. cinerea from a purple prism trap baited with z-3 hexanol and “manuka oil” lure pouches. The location of this trap was at SOUTH DAKOTA: Kingsbury County, Spring Lake, 5 mi ENE of Oldham, 44.239°N − 97.206°W, 11.viii.2014, L. Hesler (1, SDSU). The specimen was captured sometime between a trap check on 25 June 2014 and its recovery on 11 August 2014. The specimen is in good condition, suggesting that its entrapment was in early August. This collection location was among a large windbreak of mixed native and introduced trees and shrubs, and the trap was placed in the canopy of a green ash. This site is a regionally typical island of non-crop vegetation surrounded by huge expanses of farmland that have fully replaced native communities.

Daniel Young (in litt.) noted that purple prism traps are “very good for Tenomerga ” in Wisconsin. With our joint findings, there is an implication that an investigation on the characteristics of the trap as used for emerald ash borer may provide clues to developing a potential survey tool for T. cinerea and elucidating more on its biology.

Both South Dakota specimens are deposited in the Severin-McDaniel Insect Research Collection, South Dakota State University ( SDSU) .