The Nearctic-Caribbean species Leptotrachelus dorsalis (Fabricius, 1801): Larval descriptions with a diagnosis of immature Ctenodactylini and natural history notes on the genus and tribe (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

By

Erwin, Terry Lee 1940-2020
White, William H.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2012

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

194

Pages

17-32

Subjects

Commensalism , Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) , Louisiana , Saccharum officinarum L , Sugarcane , Sugarcane borer , Sugarcane Savior Beetle

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.194.3308

 

Abstract

Adults and larvae of Leptotrachelus dorsalis (Fabricius), the Sugarcane Savior Beetle, live in association with grasses, the larvae in the appressed leaf axils. Both adult and larval L. dorsalis eat larvae of the Sugarcane Borer, Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius), and perhaps other insects living in the confines of the leaf sheaths of that and other grass-like species. The geographic range of L. dorsalis extends from Kansas in the west to the Atlantic seaboard, north as far as Ontario, Canada and south to Cuba; it is an eastern species of North America and the Caribbean. Larval character attributes that are shared with a related ctenodactyline, Askalaphium depressum (Bates), provide a preliminary basis for characterization of the immatures of tribe Ctenodactylini.