Lythraria salicariae (Paykull, 1800)

Pentinsaari, Mikko, Anderson, Robert, Borowiec, Lech, Bouchard, Patrice, Brunke, Adam, Douglas, Hume, Smith, Andrew B. T. & Hebert, Paul D. N., 2019, DNA barcodes reveal 63 overlooked species of Canadian beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera), ZooKeys 894, pp. 53-150 : 53

Lythraria salicariae (Paykull, 1800) Figure 43

Distribution.

Native to the Palaearctic region. Widespread in Europe, scattered records in Asia to East Siberia and Japan ( Döberl 2010). Adventive in the Nearctic region (Ontario, Canada).

Canadian records.

Ontario: Cambridge, 25-May-2015 to 31-May-2015 (1 ex, CBG); Pickering, 24-Jun-2017 to 25-Jun-2017 (1 ex, CBG).

Diagnostic information

(based on Mohr 1966). Body length 1.8-2.3 mm. Habitus elongate-oval ( Fig. 43A, B ). Yellow-brown or red-brown, apical antennomeres and ventral side darkened, sometimes also head, pronotum, and elytral suture darker brown. Base of pronotum without lateral furrows or a transverse impression. Procoxal cavities closed behind. Elytral punctures arranged in regular striae. Metatibia without a subapical dilation or tooth on the outer margin.

Bionomic notes.

Lythraria salicariae is found in various wetland and marshy shoreline habitats as well as in forest depressions ( Koch 1992). The larvae develop on Lysimachia species, and the adults occasionally feed also on Lythrum salicaria L. ( Koch 1992, Dolgovskaya et al. 2004). The Canadian specimens were collected with pan traps in a grassy wetland and a mixed habitat of agricultural fields and forest.

Comments.

Lythraria Bedel, 1897 is a monotypic genus reported here for the first time from North America. Lythraria salicariae would be identified as Pseudorthygia Csiki, 1940 (couplet 75) using the key to genera of Galerucinae in Riley et al. (2002) based on its closed procoxal cavities, but L. salicariae is not as convex in lateral profile and has a more elongate body outline. Among previously recorded Canadian leaf beetles, the habitus of L. salicariae is somewhat similar to Glyptina brunnea Horn, 1889, but the procoxal cavities are open behind in Glyptina .

Figures

Figure 43. Lythraria salicariae (Paykull), habitus, L. Borowiec A male B female. Scale bar: 1.0 mm.