Brachypterus urticae (Fabricius, 1792)

Majka, Christopher, Webster, Reginald & Cline, Andrew, 2008, New records of Nitidulidae and Kateretidae (Coleoptera) from New Brunswick, Canada, ZooKeys 2 (2), pp. 337-356 : 340

Brachypterus urticae (Fabricius, 1792)

Carleton Co.: Jackson Falls , Bell Forest, 46.2208°N, 67.7211°W, 13.VII.2004, K. Bredin, J. Edsall, & R. Webster, rich Appalachian hardwood forest, on flowers of nettle, (2, RWC) ; same locality, 1.VIII.2004, V. and R. Webster, rich Appalachian hardwood forest, on flowers of nettle, (4, RWC) .

This adventive Palearctic species has been recorded in Canada from British Columbia west to Québec, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia ( McNamara 1991; Majka and Cline 2006), and in the United States along the Atlantic seaboard south to North Carolina and Tennessee, and west to Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin. In the western United States it has been found in Colorado, Washington, and California ( Parsons 1943). Erichson (1843) first recognized this species as occurring in the Nearctic by noting that the specimen sent to him from Connecticut by Zimmerman was not different from specimens he possessed that originated from the Palearctic. This note likely was the basis for Melsheimer’s (1846, 1853) record of the species. The common host is nettle ( Urtica spp., Urticaceae ) ( Kirk-Spriggs 1996); however, it has been reported from elder ( Dillon and Dillon 1961) and sifted from sphagnum moss ( Blatchley 1910).