Species Merimna atrata (Gory & Laporte, 1837)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Chrysobothris atrata Gory, H.L. & Laporte de Castelnau, F.L. 1837. Histoire naturelle et iconographie des insectes Coléoptères. Monographie des buprestides. genera: Colobogaster, Chrysobothris, Agrilus; (genera paged separately). Paris : P. Duménil Vol. 2(12-16). [58].

  Type data:

   Holotype OUM sex unknown, Australia (as Nouv. Hollande).

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Kanmantoo (KAN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: diurnal, herbivore (associated flora: Angophora hispida (Sm.) Blaxell [MYRTACEAE] Dwarf Apple), volant.

Larva: wood-borer (associated flora: Eucalyptus moluccana Roxb. [MYRTACEAE] Grey Box; Eucalyptus calophylla Lindl. [MYRTACEAE] Western Australian Red Gum (record of egg-laying in this species); Eucalyptus albens Benth., 1867 [MYRTACEAE] White Box; Eucalyptus melliodora A.Cunn. ex Schauer [MYRTACEAE] Yellow Box; Baeckea frutescens L. [MYRTACEAE]).

Extra Ecological Information

Williams & Williams (1983) recorded this species from Angophora hispida (Myrtaceae); Hawkeswood & Peterson (1982) recorded this species ovipositing into the smouldering bark of Eucalyptus (Cormybia) calophylla. Poulton (1916), Williams (1982) and Hawkeswood (1992) recorded this species occuring at both lights and fires.

Associated Flora References

Bellamy, C.L. 2002. Coleoptera: Buprestoidea. In Houston, W.W.K. (ed.) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 29.5. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia. pp. XII 491 +4 colour pls [88] (Angophora hispida)

Bellamy, C.L., Williams, G.A., Hasenpusch, J. & Sundholm, A. 2013. A summary of the published data on host plants and morphology of immature stages of Australian jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), with additional new records. Insecta Mundi 0293: 1-172 [66] (Angophora hispida)

Burns, J. & Burns, G. 1988. Buprestidae. Victorian Entomologist 18(2): 26-28 [27] (Angophora hispida)

Carter, H.J. 1927. Australian Coleoptera: Notes and new species. No. v. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 52(2): 222-234 [223] (Angophora hispida)

Carter, H.J. 1933. Gulliver in the bush. Wanderings of an Australian entomologists. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 234 pp. 9 pls. [196] (Angophora hispida)

Froggatt, W.W. 1907. Australian Insects. Sydney : W. Brooks & Co. xiv 449 pp., 37 pls. [Date published April 11, 1907] [160, fig. 73] (Angophora hispida)

Goudie, J.C. 1920. Notes on the Coleoptera of north-western Victoria. Part VIII. Victorian Naturalist 37: 28-34 [34] (Angophora hispida)

Hanlon, T.M.S. 1981. Jewel beetles. Hemisphere 26(6): 322-326 [326] (Angophora hispida)

Hawkeswood, T.J. 1990. A survey of the jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from the Townsville district, northern Queensland, Australia. Giornale Italiano di Entomologia 5: 23-30 [25] (Angophora hispida)

Hawkeswood, T.J. 2002. A review of the biology and host plants of Australian Buprestidae (Coleoptera) known to breed in Eucalyptus species (Myrtaceae). Journal of the Entomological Research Society 4(2): 31-58 [33] (Angophora hispida)

Hawkeswood, T.J. 2007. Review of the biology of the genus Merimna Saunders, 1868 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Calodema 9: 12-13 [12] (Angophora hispida)

Hawkeswood, T.J. & Peterson, M. 1982. A review of larval host records for Australian jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Victorian Naturalist 99: 240-251 [242] (Angophora hispida)

Poulton, E.B. 1916. The habits of the Australian buprestid "fire beetle", Merimna atrata Lap. et Gory. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London 1915(1): iii-iv [iii] (Angophora hispida)

Tepper, J.G.O. 1887. Common native insects of South Australia. A popular guide to South Australian Entomology. Part 1. Coleoptera or beetles. Adelaide : E.S. Wiggs & Son 46 pp. [20] (Angophora hispida)

Tillyard, R.J. 1926. The Insects of Australia and New Zealand. Sydney : Angus and Robertson xi 560 pp. 44 pls. [218] (Angophora hispida)

Webb, G.A. 1987. Beetle visitors to flowers of Angophora hispida (Sm.) Blaxell (Myrtaceae) and some other Angophora in the Sydney Region. Australian Zoologist 23: 59-62 [61] (Angophora hispida)

Williams, G.A. & Williams, T. 1983. A list of the Buprestidae (Coleoptera) of the Sydney basin, New South Wales, with adult food plant records and biological notes on food plant associations. Australian Entomological Magazine 9(6): 81-93 [86] (Angophora hispida)

 

General References

Blackburn, T. 1892. Coleoptera, in Scientific results of the Elder Exploring Expedition. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 16: 16-61 [36]

Blackburn, T. 1896. Coleoptera (exclusive of the Carabidae). pp. 254-308 in Spencer, B. (ed.). Report on the work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia. Part ii. Zoology. London : Dulau iv 431 pp. [271]

Burns, G.G. & Burns, A.J. 1992. The distribution of Victorian jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) - an ENTRECS project. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Victoria 5: 1-53 [14] (Map 237)

Carter, H.J. 1921. Results of Dr. E. Mjöberg's Swedish scientific expeditions to Australia 1910–1913. 25. Buprestidae. Arkiv för Zoologi 13(22): 1-6 [4]

Carter, H.J. 1940. Australian Buprestidae and the Junk Catalogue. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 11 6: 380-389 [384]

Hawkeswood, T.J. 1990. A survey of the jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from the Townsville district, northern Queensland, Australia. Giornale Italiano di Entomologia 5: 23-30 [25]

Hawkeswood, T.J. 1992. A list and notes on some nocturnally active beetles (Coleoptera) attracted to street lights at Townsville, north-eastern Queensland, Australia. Giornale Italiano di Entomologia 6: 5-8 [7]

Hawkeswood, T.J. & Peterson, M. 1982. A review of larval host records for Australian jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Victorian Naturalist 99: 240-251 [242] (larval food plant)

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] [1230]

Masters, G. 1886. Catalogue of the described Coleoptera of Australia. Part III. Lucanidae and Scarabaeidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 1: 21-126 [101] (2981)

Matthews, E.G. 1985. A guide to the genera of beetles of South Australia, Part 4 Polyphaga: Byrrhoidea, Buprestoidea, Dyropoidea, Elateroidea, Cantharoidea, Derodontoidea, and Bostrichoidea. South Australian Museum, Special Education Bulletin 7: 1-68 [4]

Obenberger, J. 1934. Buprestidae 3. pp. 569-781 in Junk, W. & Schenkling, S. (eds). Coleopterorum Catalogus. Berlin : W. Junk Vol. 132. [659]

Poulton, E.B. 1916. The habits of the Australian buprestid "fire beetle", Merimna atrata Lap. et Gory. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London 1915(1): iii-iv [iii]

Saunders, E. 1868. A revision of the Australian Buprestidae described by the Rev. F. W. Hope. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 16: 1-67 [Date published April 1868] [18]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
03-Oct-2024	BUPRESTIDAE Leach, 1815	03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED
16-Jun-2022	BUPRESTIDAE Leach, 1815	10-Sep-2024	MODIFIED
04-Aug-2021	BUPRESTIDAE Leach, 1815	03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED
24-Dec-2020	BUPRESTOIDEA	03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED
01-Jul-2020	POLYPHAGA	03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED	Max Beatson
05-Mar-2019	BUPRESTIDAE Leach, 1815	03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED
05-Mar-2019	Buprestinae Leach, 1815	03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED
05-Mar-2019	Buprestinae Leach, 1815	03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED
28-Jan-2014	BUPRESTIDAE Leach, 1815	03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED	Dr Federica Turco (QM)
		03-Oct-2024	MODIFIED