Stilbus apicalis (Melsheimer, 1844)

Majka, Christopher, Gimmel, Matthew & Langor, David, 2008, The Phalacridae (Coleoptera, Cucujoidea) of Canada: new records, distribution, and bionomics with a particular focus on the Atlantic Canadian fauna, ZooKeys 2 (2), pp. 209-220 : 216

Stilbus apicalis (Melsheimer, 1844)

NEW BRUNSWICK: York Co.: New Maryland, 45.83ºN 66.73ºW, 26.VI.2003, R.P. Webster, mixed forest, at light, (1, RWC). NOVA SCOTIA: Annapolis Co.: 19.VI.1995, J. Ogden, (1, NSNR) ; Colchester Co.: Bible Hill, 5.VIII.2004, 14.V.2005, 23.V.2005, 31.V.2005, K. Aikens, pasture, sweep net, (12, CBU). PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: Queens Co. : Harrington , 2.IX.2005, 8.IX.2005, M.E.M. Smith, barley fields, sweep net, (10, ACPE) .

Stilbus apicalis is newly recorded in Atlantic Canada ( Fig. 3 ). The species has previously been recorded in eastern North America from Ontario and Maine, south to Florida, and west to Louisiana, Kansas, and Illinois; and in the west from British Columbia south through Idaho to California ( Leng 1920; Campbell 1991; Downie and Arnett 1996; Chandler 2001; Gimmel 2008). Little is known about its bionomics except that individuals have been collected by sweeping grasses ( Steiner 1984), a habitat and collection mode consistent with most of the specimens collected in Atlantic Canada. Specimens are also commonly collected at lights ( White 1983). Dearborn and Donahue (1993) reported individuals from spruce ( Picea sp.) in Chesuncook and Augusta, Maine. Steiner (1984) noted that populations are almost exclusively comprised of females, and considered that it is likely a surface feeding, mold grazing, facultatively parthenogenic species. Th e precise hosts of S. apicalis are unknown although some adults were found on an unidentified smut growing on panic grass, P. dichotomiflorum ( Steiner 1984) .

Figures

Fig. 3. Distribution of Acylomus pugetanus Casey and Stilbus apicalis (Melsheimer) in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Note: the Labrador record of A. pugetanus is not indicated.