Phloeocharis subtilissima Mannerheim (Staphylinidae: Phloeo charinae) and Cephennium gallicum Ganglbauer (Scydmaenidae) new to North America: a case study in the introduction of exotic Coleoptera to the port of Halifax, with new records of other species
Author
Majka, Christopher
Author
Klimaszewski, Jan
text
Zootaxa
2004
781
1
15
journal article
41476
10.5281/zenodo.158508
4a5025b9-14d2-46eb-8ed8-cab98c426211
11755326
158508
BA06AD73-AD6E-4948-8671-A1F85129B571
Cephennium gallicum
Ganglbauer
On five occasions (
July 7, 2001
,
May 11, 2002
,
June 9, 2002
,
September 22, 2002
, and
October 9, 2004
) six specimens of
Cephennium gallicum
Ganglbauer
were collected in Point Pleasant Park. Five specimens were collected under the bark of branches or limbs of recently fallen or damaged white pine. The sixth specimen was collected while sweep netting through heath vegetation in a small sphagnum bog. Additionally, Peter Hammond collected four specimens in the Park in July, 1988 (NHM). These records represent the first report of this species in North American (
Figures 3
and
4
).
Cephennium gallicum
is also the only species of Palearctic scydmaenid known to have become established in North
America
.
FIGURE 3:
Cephennium gallicum
Ganglbauer, Point Pleasant Park, Halifax
, Nova Scotia, Canada. Dorsal habitus.
The subcortical environment which
C. gallicum
inhabits is on wood which has been dead for at least a couple of years. The phloem layer has been almost completely consumed by bark and woodboring insects (
Cerambycidae
,
Scolytinae
, and
Buprestidae
) which are now almost completely absent. The outer layer of the bark is loosely attached to the xylem leaving considerable open space beneath. Present in this habitat are considerable numbers of oribatid mites and in all occasions when
C. gallicum
were found, they were associated with these mites. On two occasions individuals of
C. gallicum
were observed with oribatid mites grasped in their mandibles. Other arthropods seen in this habitat include various entomobryid springtails (Collembola) and the weevils
Cossonus americanus
Buchanan
,
Himatium errans
LeConte
, and
Rhyncolus brunneus
Mannerheim
(
Curculionidae
:
Cossoninae
), which appear to thrive in this rather dry environment.
As
is the case with
P. subtilissima
,
C. gallicum
appears confined to the forests of Point Pleasant Park. Fieldwork in adjacent areas has not yielded specimens. Individuals have been found from
May 11 to October 9.