Buprestidae of South Australia
( Jewel beetles )
by Peter J. Lang
Castiarina uptoni   (Barker, 1979)
subfamily  Buprestinae » tribe  Stigmoderini » subtribe  Stigmoderina
Castiarina  species group: quadrifasciata
Castiarina uptoni   Adult images
Castiarina uptoni, SID6568, CC-BY-NC-SA, NW, photo by Peter Forward
Castiarina uptoni  Distinctive features

Distinguished inter alia from C. quadrifasciata by the much elongated and well separated spines terminating the elytra and less extensive dark markings.

Notes

This species occurrence in SA is based on an identification by this author of a geo-referenced beetle image taken by Peter Forward in the far north of the State in 2015 and posted online at http://www.bowerbird.org.au/observations/49128. (CC-BY-NC-SA; https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/b5fde593-a468-4aad-a22a-c884643089de).

Barker 2006a placed C. uptoni in the C. quadrifasciata species group together with C. quadrifasciata as its only other member. Both are closely associated with plants previously treated in SA as belonging to family Chloanthaceae, but now subsumed as a tribe within Lamiaceae, subfamily Prostantheroideae. Previously Barker 1993 commented on their markedly different genitalia which led him at that time to conclude that they were Mullerian mimics from two different species groups.

Distribution
SA Regions¹:  NW
Australian States:  SAWANT
South Australian occurrences
LegendP.J.Lang collection vouchered records
other private collection or museum specimens, or sightings
Satellite map
Terrain map
Enlarge map
Adult activity records for Castiarina uptoni  (total of 1 beetles)
1
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Legend
live emerged adults, count > median value of 1 per quarter month
live emerged adults, count <= median value of 1
live non-emerged adults only, for that quarter month
12
number of active beetles for that quarter month
Host plant notes

Barker 1993 documented sympatric occurrences of C. uptoni and C. quadrifasciata in WA where both species were found breeding in Dicrastylis georgei, and later were using it as an adult host.

¹ LegendregionsSA State Herbarium regions (map)
EA: Eastern, EP: Eyre Peninsula, FR: Flinders Ranges, GT: Gairdner-Torrens, KI: Kangaroo Island, LE: Lake Eyre, MU: Murray, NL: Northern Lofty, NU: Nullarbor, NW: North-Western, SE: South-Eastern, SL: Southern Lofty, YP: Yorke Peninsula