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.