Subfamily Cardiophorinae

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Introduction

The Cardiophorinae are a distinctive cosmopolitan subfamily of Elateridae with a world fauna of 35 genera and about 800 species. The Australian fauna is small, consisting of three genera and 58 described species.

Treatment of the Australian fauna has been piecemeal and no comprehensive modern revision exists for this subfamily. Blanchard (1853) described the first Australian cardiophorine as Agriotes quadripunctatus. Candèze (1860, 1865, 1878a, 1878b, 1882) described 19 new species and Macleay (1872, 1888) described two species from Queensland and the Kimberley, Western Australia respectively. Blackburn (1892) described two species and Schwarz (1902, 1903, 1907) another seven new species. Rainbow (1904) described a single species from the suburbs of Sydney, NSW, that has turned out to be a synonym of Paracardiophorus australis (Candèze), also described from Sydney. Elston (1930) described three species and Van Zwaluwenburg (1947) described three species from the Kimberley region also erecting the new genus Patricia, now known as Patriciella. The last revision of the Australian fauna was by Carter (1939) who described 21 new species and provided a key to the known species. Matthews (1985) has provided an illustrated key to the cardiophorine genera occurring in South Australia.

The Australian species are mostly reddish brown or black in coloration. However, several species are distinctively marked with elytral patterns of contrasting coloured patches on a dark background. They range in size from 3–8 mm. The genera Cardiotarsus Eschscholtz and Paracardiophorus Schwarz are shared with other faunal regions and only Patriciella Van Zwaluwenburg is endemic. Patriciella is restricted to the arid inland regions of Australia and the females are unknown.

The larvae are very distinctive with apparent triple segmentation of the abdominal segments, cleft mandibles and anal papillae (Becker 1991). They are predacious and are either soil dwelling or live in rotten decaying wood. Some unassociated larvae have also been found in riparian situations in southern Australia.

 

General References

Becker, E.C. 1991. Order Coleoptera. Elateridae (Elateroidea). pp. 410-417 in Stehr, F.W. (ed.). Immature Insects. Coleoptera and Diptera. Dubuque, Iowa : Kendall-Hunt Vol. 2 xvi 975 pp.

Blackburn, T. 1892. Notes on Australian Coleoptera, with descriptions of new species. Part X. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 6(3): 479-550 [Date published May 23, 1892]

Blanchard, C. 1853. Zoologie. Description des Insectes. pp. 1-422 in Dumont-d'Urville, J. Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l'Océanie sur les corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée pendant les années 1837–1840, sous le commandement de M.J. Dumont-d'Urville Capitaine de vaisseau. Atlas, Zoologie. Paris : Gide et Cie et J. Baudry Vol. 4 422 pp. [published between 1842–1853]

Candèze, E. 1860. Monographie des Elatérides 3. Mémoires de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège 15: 1-512

Candèze, E. 1865. Elatérides nouveaux. Mémoires Couronnés par l'Academie Royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Belgique 17: 1-63

Candèze, E. 1878a. Relevé des Elatérides recueillis dans les Iles Malaises, à la Nouvelle-Guinée et au Cap York, par MM. G. Doria, O. Beccari et L.M. D'Albertis. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genova 12: 99-143

Candèze, E. 1878b. Elatérides nouveaux. 2. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique (Comptes-rendus) 21: li-lxi, lxxv-lxxxv, cxxxv-cxliii, clxi-c [pages: lxxv–lxxxv, cxxxv–cxliii, clxi–clxxii, clxxxix–cxcix]

Candèze, E. 1882. Elatérides nouveaux 3. Mémoires de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège 2 9: 1-117

Carter, H.J. 1939. Australian Coleoptera. Notes and new species. No. XI. (Mostly Elateridae). Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 64(3-4): 297–330, pls VIII, IX

Douglas, H.B. 2017. World reclassification of the Cardiophorinae (Coleoptera, Elateridae), based on phylogenetic analyses of morphological characters. ZooKeys 655: 1–130

Elston, A.H. 1930. Results of Dr E. Mjöberg's Swedish scientific expeditions to Australia 1910–1912. 50. Elateridae. Arkiv för Zoologi 22A(1): 1-22 [Date published Sept. 27, 1930]

Macleay, W.J. 1872. Notes on a collection of insects from Gayndah. Second paper. Transactions of the Entomological Society of New South Wales 2(4): 239-318

Macleay, W.J. 1888. The insects of the vicinity of King's Sound, N.W. Australia. Part III.–The Sternoxes, Family Buprestidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 3(3): 1227-1246 [Date published Dec. 7, 1888]

Matthews, E.G. 1985. A Guide to the Genera of Beetles of South Australia. Part 4. Polyphaga: Byrrhoidea, Buprestoidea, Dryopoidea, Elateroidea, Cantharoidea, Derodontoidea and Bostrichoidea. Adelaide : South Australian Museum 68 pp.

Rainbow, W.J. 1904. Note on Cicindela jungi and descriptions of two new beetles. Records of the Australian Museum 5(4): 245-247 [Date published Jun. 16, 1904]

Schwarz, O. 1902. Neue Elateriden aus Australien. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1902(i): 113-126 [Date published Jul. 31, 1902]

Schwarz, O. 1903. Neue Elateriden aus Neu-Guinea und Australien. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1903(ii): 377-398 [Date published Aug. 31, 1903]

Schwarz, O. 1907. 18 neue Elateriden-Arten von Australien. Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung 68(1): 70-86 [Date published May 31, 1907]

Van Zwaluwenburg, R.H. 1947. Some elaterid beetles from Australia and New Guinea. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 13: 109-115

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		12-Feb-2010	(import)