Diphucrania acuducta

female

8.2

n = 1

3.3

n = 1

This is one of a small subset of Diphucrania species associated with native peas (family Fabaceae). In SA, it is confined to higher rainfall areas and does not appear to be particularly common here. The Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island occurrences are outliers from the main populations in eastern Australia.

South Australian adult host records are mostly from Pultenaea species; in eastern Australia a wider variety of native pea genera and species have been reported.

Five matching larvae of the Agrilinae type were found in the swollen stem bases (galls) of a Dark Bush-pea Pultenaea viscidula on Kangaroo Island. The individual shown partly exposed in the images on this page was confirmed as Diphucrania acuducta based on its DNA barcode (mitochondrial CO1 sequence matching that of adults). This is the first breeding record of the species from Pultenaea.

There are two earlier records from NSW of this species breeding in other genera of native peas. Froggatt 1892 reported rearing D. acuducta (as Ethon marmoreum Laporte & Gory) from root 'galls' on Dillwynia retorta (as D. ericifolia). More recently, Turner & Hawkeswood 1995c reared an adult from within 'galls (or swellings)' on Bossiaea rhombifolia.

Froggatt described the galls thus: 'On the roots of several bushes of Dillwynia ericifolia, I found longer cylindrical swellings away from the base of the stem on the smaller roots which were found to contain beetle larvae, and .. the perfect insect. The galls are regular swellings of the rootlet, the young larva apparently eating round between the wood and the bark..'. He also mentioned 'a large oval gall on the roots close to the stem'.

Legend	L1	length from clypeus/frons to elytral apex (mean, range, sample size)
	L2	length from anterior of edge of eyes to elytral apex
	W	maximum width with elytra fully closed

Legend
9	number of active beetles, actually recorded in that quarter-month
	actual count > 1 (median)
	actual count <= 1 (median)

Legend	beetles	count of beetles collected from, or sighted on, host plant taxon
	sites	count of major sites (unique 10 km grid cells +/- some distinct approximate localities)
Plant names in green are hyperlinked to a matching host species page with plant photos.

Code		beetles	%	host plant taxa
F	Fabaceae	16	89%	4
M	Myrtaceae	2	11%	1

position	beetles	sites
on flower(s)	13	3
on flowering plant	1	1
on plant (unspecified)	4	2

Legend		P.J.Lang collection vouchered records
		other private collection or museum specimens, or sightings

	records	sites	SA regions¹	family	larva
Pultenaea viscidula	5	1	KI	F	5

Legend	records	count of breeding adults, pupae and larvae
	sites	count of major sites (unique 10 km grid cells +/- some distinct approximate localities)
	adult	live = extracted alive; dead = extracted dead as intact or fragmentary remains; ex billet = reared and emerged from stored sections of host; ex pupa = reared from sampled pupa
	pupa	extracted pupa; pupa ex larva = reared pupa from larva
	larva	extracted larva (any stage including prepupa)
	gall (only)	hatched or unhatched gall identified by form and position rather than contents
Plant names in green are hyperlinked to a matching host species page with plant photos.

¹ Legend	regions	SA 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
	size	The ellipse is the correct size when printed, indicative on a desktop screen, and likely to be wrong on a mobile device.