© The Author, 2009. Journal compilation © Australian Museum, Sydney, 2009 
Records of the Australian Museum (2009) Vol. 61: 225-228. ISSN 0067-1975 
doi: 10.3853/j.0067-1975.61.2009.1530 
The Cleridae of Lord Howe Island, with Descriptions of 
Two New Species (Coleoptera: Cleroidea) 
Justin S. Bartlett 
Entomology Collection, Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries, 
80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly Queensland 4068, Australia 
justin.bartlett@dpi.qld.gov.au 
Abstract. Thriocerodes decussates n.sp. and Tarsostenodes howensis n.sp. are described from Lord 
Howe Island off eastern Australia. A key to all species known from the island is provided and brief 
summary information for three previously described species is given. The clerid fauna of Lord Howe 
Island consists of three endemic species, one of which is presumed extinct, and two species introduced 
from eastern Australia. 
Bartlett, Justin S., 2009. The Cleridae of Lord Howe Island, with descriptions of two new species (Coleoptera: 
Cleroidea). Records of the Australian Museum 61(3): 225-228. 
The beetle family Cleridae is comprised of approximately 
4000 mostly predatory species assigned to just over 300 
genera (based on Gerstmeier 2000). Lord Howe Island 
is an isolated oceanic island of volcanic origin located 
approximately 700 kilometers northeast of Sydney, Australia 
(31°30’S 159°04’E) (Environment Australia 2002). At 
present only one clerid species, the flightless Cormodes 
darwini Pascoe, has been described from Lord Howe Island, 
though it has not been collected for almost 100 years and is 
now presumed extinct (DECC 2007). 
Surveys of Lord Howe Island by Australian Museum 
staff during the years 2000 and 2001 have produced the 
most comprehensive sample of Cleridae from the island to 
date. Identified from this material are two Australian species, 
Lemidia subaenea Gorham and Thriocerodes bipartitus Pic, 
apparently introduced to the island by human activity, and 
two undescribed, presumably endemic, species belonging to 
the genera Thriocerodes Wolcott & Dybas and Tarsostenodes 
Blackburn (the former genus, widely distributed throughout 
Australia, was hitherto represented by five species, the latter, 
known from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, by 
seven species). No specimens of C. darwini were among the 
recently collected material. 
In this paper Thriocerodes decussates n.sp. and 
Tarsostenodes howensis n.sp. are described and illustrated, 
and a dichotomous key to all five species presented. 
Additionally, brief details are given for C. darwini, L. 
subaenea and T. bipartitus, including a list of repositories 
holding Lord Howe collected specimens for each taxon. 
Materials and methods 
Adult beetles were studied and measured using a Nikon 
SMZ1500 stereo dissecting microscope fitted with a scale 
reticule. Total length is the distance from the distal limit of 
the clypeus to the elytral apices. Elytral and pronotal length 
to width ratios were calculated from measurements made 
of the longest and broadest extremities of those body parts. 
Terminology used herein follows Lawrence and Britton 
(1994) and Ekis (1977). Ante nn omere is abbreviated to “A”. 
Habitus images of adults were constructed, with the aid of 
Helicon Locus montage software, from photographs taken 
through a Nikon SMZ1500 stereo dissecting microscope 
fitted with a Prior ProScan II stepping-motor and a Nikon 
DS U2/DS-PH digital image capture system. 
