Erichson 1843 : 321 Camptodes Review of the Australian Cyllodini (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Nitidulinae), with descriptions of new taxa, and notes on the genus Macleayania (Nitidulini) Lawrence, John F. Kirejtshuk, Alexander G. Zootaxa 2019 2019-01-14 4544 3 301 334 3GJ7 Erichson, 1843 Erichson 1843 [151,478,1508,1534] Insecta Nitidulidae Camptodes GBIF Animalia Coleoptera 4 305 Arthropoda genus     Camptodes  Erichson 1843: 321. Typespecies: Sphaeridium scutellatumSturm, 1826.  Notes. In addition to characters given in the above key, the genus  Camptodesis also chacterised by the widely lobed tarsomeres 1–3, arcuately convergent antennal grooves, more or less shortened elytra with rounded apices and male genital capsule completely invaginated into abdomen.  This Neotropical genus is not native to Australia, but is represented here by at least one introduced species, which feeds as larvae on the succulent stems of  Opuntiacacti, also introduced. Based on the  Camptodesspecimens available to us, collected from 1962 to 1999, the current distribution of the genus in Australiais from an area about 1000 kmfrom north to south, roughly from Rockhampton, QLD to Muswellbrook, NSW (21°33’ to 32°05’ S), and 500 kmfrom east to west, roughly from Emerald, QLD and Lightning Ridge, NSW to the Toowoomba area (147°58’ to 152°19’ E). Although the introduction of  Opuntiacacti into Australiabegan as early as 1788 and involved a number of different species, it is most likely that the introduced  Camptodesarrived with the numerous shipments of  Opuntiacontaining eggs and larvae of  Cactoblastis cactorum( Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) sent to Australiabeginning in 1925. The first specimens of  Cactoblastiswere collected as larvae in northwestern Argentina(Concordia, Entre Rios) from  Opuntia delaetianaand  O. monacanthaand transported to Buenos Aires, where the emerging adults laid eggs subsequently placed on large quantities of  Opuntiaof the  monacanthagroup and shipped to Australiain large wooden cases. These specimens were stored in Brisbane and at the Chinchilla Field Station, the latter of which is in the centre of the current  Camptodesdistribution ( Dodd 1940). The fact that the shipments continued until 1935 and involved large quantities of rotting cacti suggests that this could be the source of the introduced  Camptodesin Australia. There are two distinct forms of  Camptodesin Australia, one ( Figs 3, 8) entirely black and the other ( Figs 1, 7) black with a pair of large, red, irregularly quadrangular maculae extending from the humeri to the lateral edges of the scutellar shield. Their aedeagi are quite similar and the two usually occur together (several of the series included below contain both bicoloured and unicoloured specimens). We have concluded that a single species is involved, but further collecting in remnant patches of  Opuntiamight clarify this problem. Because of the large number of species of  Camptodesdescribed from South America, the identification of the introduced species is made more difficult. One of authors of this paper (AK) examined the female typeof  Strongylus humeralis Brullé, 1842from Argentina“la province de Corrientes” ( Brulle 1842: 67) which is at least closely related to the introduced Australian species. Reitter (1876)described nine different varieties of  Camptodes vittatusErichsoncollected by Davis from a single locality ( Cordoba, as Cordova, Argentina) and deposited in the collection of Dohrn (MIZW); two of these ( lugubrisand humerosus) are very similar to the unicoloured and bicoloured forms from Australia. Whether or not these are all varieties of  C. vittatusis beyond the scope of this study, but it does seem likely that a highly variable species of  Camptodesoccurs in the area from which the shipments of  Opuntiaand  Cactoblastisoriginated. Since C.  humeralis(Brullé)is the oldest name for described  Camptodesfrom this region, we consider the introduced Australian species to be at least close to this species.