Subfamily Elaterinae

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Subfamily Elaterinae

Compiler and date details

31 December 1996 - Andrew A. Calder, CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Introduction

The world fauna of Elaterinae comprises some 200 genera and 3500 species among which 21 genera and 92 species have been described from Australia (Calder 1998). No comprehensive revision of the elaterine species of Australia exists. Carter, in 1939, described eight new species of Melanoxanthus Eschscholtz and provided a key to all the species known at the time. Neboiss (1975) revised the genus Ophidius Candèze and erected Yalganus to accommodate species of Ophidius and Dicteniophorus Candèze that lacked tarsal pads. Gullan (1977) revised the genus Anilicus Candèze, erected a new genus Augenotus Gullan for two species previously included in Anilicus, and provided notes on the related genera Anilicoides Candèze and Melanoxanthus. Calder (1996) has provided an overview of the genera, erecting two new genera, Idiomilta and Rangsia and recorded the existence of Melanotus Eschscholtz in Australia (Calder 1983).

The first two described Australian elaterines were Elater nigroterminatus and Elater xanthomus (W.S. Macleay, 1826) collected on Captain Phillip P. King's survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia during 1818 and 1822. The former has been synonymised with Elater melanocephalus (Fabricius, 1781) which is now included in the genus Melanoxanthus, species of which are mostly tropical in distribution, and the latter is included in the genus Anilicus. Boisduval (1835) described three species collected on the voyage of the Astrolabe, and Germar (1844, 1848) another two species, one of which is a synonym. Erichson (1842) described five species mostly from Tasmania, Candèze (1859, 1863, 1865, 1878a, 1878b, 1882, 1887, 1889, 1893, 1897, 1900) described a total of 37 new species and erected nine genera and W.J. Macleay (1872, 1888) described six species from Gayndah, Queensland and the Kimberley, Western Australia. Blackburn (1889, 1892, 1911) decribed five species and erected new genera for two unusual elaterids found in the arid interior of Australia. Schwarz (1902a, 1902b, 1903, 1906, 1907) described a total of 13 new species one of which is a synonym, and Lea (1908, 1929) described seven new species from King Is., Norfolk Is. and Lord Howe Is. Blair (1935) described Megapenthes macdougalli from specimens collected around Mackay, Queensland, Carter (1939) described nine new species, and Elston (1930) described Ascesis testaceus as new. During the latter half of the 20th Century only three other workers have published on genera included in this group: Neboiss (1960, 1975), Gullan (1977) and Calder (1983, 1996).

Elaterines are for the most part drab-coloured beetles although some genera are brightly coloured. Anilicus is strikingly marked in red and black, while Ophidius, Rangsia Calder and Yalganus species are mostly orange with black markings. Some Melanoxanthus species are also coloured in contrasting colours. Elaterine species range in length from 4 to 31 mm.

Fifteen of the twenty-one Australian genera are endemic. Anchastus LeConte, Megapenthes Kiesenwetter, Melanotus and Melanoxanthus are widespread in the Holarctic, Afrotropical, Neotropical and Oriental regions. Simodactylus Candèze is widespread throughout Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia as well as extending into the Oriental Region. Ochosternus Candèze is also known from New Zealand and New Caledonia.

Biological information on any Australian elaterine species is scarce. Larvae of several species of Megapenthes, Melanoxanthus, Melanotus and Paranilicus Candèze have been collected from rotten, decaying wood either in tree trunks or underneath bark, while Megapenthes automolus Candèze has been reared from a pupa found in the soil.