Uracanthus Hope, 1833

Thongphak, Duangrat & Wang, Qiao, 2007, Taxonomic revision of the longicorn beetle genus Uracanthus Hope 1833 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Uracanthini) from Australia., Zootaxa 1569 (1569), pp. 1-139 : 6-7

Genus Uracanthus Hope, 1833

Uracantha Hope, 1833: 64 .

Uracanthus Hope, 1834: 108 ; Laporte, 1840: 425; Thomson, 1860: 143, 151; 1864: 155, 413; Lacordaire, 1869: 390; Aurivillius, 1912: 147; Lea, 1916: 368; McKeown, 1947: 62. [Type species: U. triangularis Hope, 1833 (by monotypy)].

Diagnosis

Genae long and parallel; head with transverse wrinkles on ventral side; prothorax constricted anteriorly; elytra long, subparalell, gradually tapering towards apex, with longitudinal glabrous stripes and/or sub-basal, glabrous (or sparsely pubescent) and subtriangular marks, or with dense pubescence throughout; tibia with 2 spurs at apex; hind tarsal segment 1 as long as or longer than sum of segments 2 and 3.

Description

Body size. Male body length: 11.81–53.78 mm; width: 1.71–10.83 mm. Female body length, 11.11–60.56 mm; width, 1.88–12.30 mm.

Colour ( Figs 8–9). Body reddish to blackish brown with golden or whitish pubescence; many species with 1 or 2 longitudinal stripes of dense pubescence on each side of pronotal disc; elytron pubescent throughout, or pubescent with 2–3 longitudinal glabrous stripes and/or a large sub-basal, glabrous (or sparsely pubescent) and subtriangular mark.

Head ( Figs 2–4). Head narrower than prothorax; postclypeus very large, triangular ( Fig. 2A) or semicircular ( Fig. 2B) in shape, flattened to convex, with coarse punctures and pubescence; distance between lower lobes of eyes less than 2.5 × as long as distance between upper lobes of eyes; distance between upper lobes of eyes about as long as 0.6 × or more than 0.6 × as long as distance between eyes on ventral side ( Fig. 2C); genal length less than 0.9 × as long as head width immediately below eyes ( Figs 2B and 2D). Antennae slen- der ( Fig. 3), composed of 11 segments and filiform with the first segment (scape) most robust; several flagellal segments may be produced at apex ( Figs 3b and 4a) or fringed ( Fig. 4b) in some species. Antennae may be longer or shorter than body. Apical ¼ to 1/3 of segment 11 in males usually thinner than basal part, making the segment appear to be 2 segments ( Fig. 4c).

Thorax and abdomen ( Figs 5–11). Prothorax longer than wide, constricted at anterior margin in most species ( Fig. 5); sides rounded or angular ( Fig. 6); pronotal disc binodulose in middle and finely punctate in most species; disc and sides transversely rugose in most species ( Figs 7, 8). Elytra ( Fig. 9) subparallel, gradually tapering towards apex, less than 7.0 × as long as prothorax and less than 5.0 × as long as shoulder width; disc with dense, fine punctures at basal half, gradually diminishing towards apex; disc of each elytron with 2–3 longitudinal carinae in most species; apex rounded, bispinose, unispined at suture, truncate or pointed ( Fig. 9). Legs ( Fig. 10) slender, femora slightly thickened near apical 1/3; upper surface of femora and tibia with dense pubescence; basal segment of hind tarsus as long as or longer than the sum of segments 2 and 3. Abdomen ( Fig. 11a) slender, with dense uniform pubescence but in males of U. albatus , U. ventralis and U. strigosus , each sternite also with medial tuft of dense hairs ( Fig. 11b); each sternite slightly longer than wide; apex of terminal sternite truncate, round or round with notch.

Male terminalia ( Figs 12–16). Aedeagus consisting of median lobe, median strut and internal sac ( Fig. 12a). Apex of ventral lobe pointed ( Fig. 12b), rounded ( Fig. 12c), truncate ( Fig. 12d) or emarginate ( Fig. 12e); dorsal lobe longer or shorter than ventral lobe. Internal sac ( Fig. 12a) divided into three regions: basal unspined region, spined region and terminal region. Spined region with 1–4 forms of spines or processes ( Fig. 13); terminal region long and narrow, without any spine; sum of unspined and spined regions shorter than terminal region. Tegmen with two parameres ( Fig. 14), paramere long and slender or short and robust, cylindrical in shape, apex rounded with long and short setae. Eighth sternite obliquely truncate ( Fig. 15b) or rounded ( Fig. 15a, c, d) at side; shallowly or strongly emarginate at apex; ventral surface with 1–2 kinds of microspines or cloud-like processes. Eighth tergite ( Fig. 16) with 1–3 forms of spines on ventral surface; apex rounded ( Fig. 16a), pointed ( Fig. 16b), truncate ( Fig. 16c) or emarginate ( Fig. 16d).

Ovipositor and spermatheca ( Figs 17–18). Ovipositor usually very short; styli arising terminally ( Fig. 17). Spermatheca curved to different extent; spermathecal gland arising near ( Fig. 18a) or at base ( Fig. 18b).

Distribution This group of beetles is widely distributed in all states of Australia, mainly along the coast.

Biology

The biology of species of the genus Uracanthus is largely unknown. According to fragmentary observations (reviewed by McKeown, 1947, Duffy, 1963, and Matthews, 1997; observed by Moore, 1972; Rondonuwu & Austin, 1988; Hawkeswood, 2002) and labels of specimens examined for this study, at least 31 plant genera are recorded as host plants of Uracanthus : Acacia , Aster , Amyema , Amygdalus , Armeniaca , Banksia , Boronia , Callitris , Cassinia , Casuarina , Citrus , Correa , Corylus , Cupressus , Cytisus , Eucalyptus , Eriostemon , Grevillea , Hakea , Helichrysum , Jacksonia , Lasiopetalum , Litchi, Lomatia , Loranthus , Melaleuca , Olearia , Pittosporum , Pomaderris , Pultenaea , and Ulex . Adults visit (and probably feed on) flowers of Angophora , Eucalyptus , Leptospermum , Melaleuca and Xanthorrhoea . Larvae of many species bore inside the branches and stems of living trees, and some are pests of citrus, lichi, peach, plum, and apricot.