Buprestidae of South Australia
( Jewel beetles )
by Peter J. Lang
Diphucrania adusta   (Barker, 2001)
subfamily  Agrilinae » tribe  Coraebini » subtribe  Cisseina
Diphucrania adusta   Adult images
Diphucrania adusta, PL2940A, male, on Acacia pycnantha, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL2940A, male, on Acacia pycnantha, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL2940A, male, on Acacia pycnantha, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL2933B, female, on Acacia pycnantha, MU, 6.6 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania adusta, PL1037A, female, MU, 6.6 × 2.6 mm Diphucrania adusta, PL1037B, male, MU, 6.0 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania adusta, PL5760, male, from Melaleuca uncinata foliage, EP, 6.5 × 2.5 mm Diphucrania adusta, SAMA 25-018294, male, holotype, adapted from original, CC BY NC SA 4.0, SE, photo by Amy Pfitzner for SA Museum, 5.6 × 2.2 mm Diphucrania adusta, PL2940A, male, on Acacia pycnantha, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL2940A, male, on Acacia pycnantha, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL2940A, male, on Acacia pycnantha, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL2940A, male, on Acacia pycnantha, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL1037A, PL1037B, female and male, MU
Actual
size¹:
6.0 mm
×
2.3 mm
Measurements (mm)
malefemale
L15.8
4.5 – 6.8
n = 276.3
5 – 7.15
n = 12
L25.9
4.95 – 6.7
n = 146.1
4.85 – 7
n = 6
W2.3
1.8 – 2.65
n = 272.5
2 – 2.8
n = 11
Legend  L1length from clypeus/frons to elytral apex (mean, range, sample size)
L2length from anterior of edge of eyes to elytral apex
Wmaximum width with elytra fully closed
Diphucrania adusta  Distinctive features

Head with frons gently depressed; pronotum bronze or coppery bronze with a subdued sheen; elytra bronze to dark grey-purple with somewhat irregularly shaped whitish scale-hair patches. Smaller and narrower in shape than D. cupreola; scutellum with fewer and less conspicuous puncta; aedeagus more rounded in shape, with transparent apical margins on the parameres being shorter and inclined more steeply towards apex, and the two halves of the centromere apex adjoining along their inner vertical margins to form a single (split) tooth (rather than being bidentate).

Notes

This species is currently known only from South Australia. It is named from the Latin adustus, brown, in reference to its general overall coloration. Barker 2001 based his description on five specimens: two early ones (designated as holotype and allotype) from Lucindale and one collected in 1956 from Tintinara, both localities in the SE Region, plus two early specimens from Yorke Peninsula.

Barker described the white marks formed from clumped setae on the elytra and pronotum as being faint, but commented that the only known specimens were old and abraded.

I first encountered specimens of this species in 2009 at a site on the eastern edge of the Northern Mt Lofty Ranges (but falling within the Murray (MU) Region as defined here). These were more colourful than the museum specimens mentioned above and had conspicuous white setae patches. They were originally treated as D. cupreola on these web pages, along with two specimens collected later on western Eyre Peninsula by Alex Stolarski, but in January 2023 after closer examination they were re-determined as D. adusta.

Distribution
SA Regions¹:  EPMUYPSLSE
Australian States:  SA
Southern 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 Diphucrania adusta  (total of 30 beetles)
2
7 18
1 1
1
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Legend
live emerged adults, count > median value of 2 per quarter month
live emerged adults, count <= median value of 2
live non-emerged adults only, for that quarter month
12
number of active beetles for that quarter month
Adult host plants
beetles sites SA regions¹ family position on host plant
251MUF
33EPM
Banksia sp.11SEP
Legendbeetlescount of beetles collected from, or sighted on, host plant taxon
sitescount 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.
Plant family
Code beetles % host plant taxa
F Fabaceae 25 86% 1
M Myrtaceae 3 10% 1
P Proteaceae 1 3% 1
Position on adult host
positionbeetlessites
on flowering plant11
on foliage or non-flowering plant273
on plant (unspecified)11
Diphucrania adusta Breeding record images
Diphucrania adusta, PL3880B, dead non-emerged adult, in Eutaxia diffusa (PJL 3159) stem base, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL3880A, male, dead non-emerged adult, in Eutaxia diffusa (PJL 3159) stem, NL Diphucrania adusta, PL3880A, male, dead non-emerged adult, in Eutaxia diffusa (PJL 3159) stem, NL Diphucrania adusta, PL3880A, male, dead non-emerged adult, from Eutaxia diffusa (PJL 3159) stem, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL3880A, dead non-emerged adult, in Eutaxia diffusa stem, NL Diphucrania adusta, PL3880B, female, dead non-emerged adult, from Eutaxia diffusa (PJL 3159) stem, MU Diphucrania adusta, PL3880C, male, dead non-emerged adult, from Eutaxia diffusa (PJL 3159) stem base, MU, 6.6 × 2.6 mm Diphucrania adusta, PL3880D, female, dead non-emerged adult, from Eutaxia diffusa (PJL 3159) stem base, MU, 7.2 × 2.8 mm
Larval host plant
records sites SA regions¹ family adult deadlarva
201MUF191
Legendrecordscount of breeding adults, pupae and larvae
sitescount of major sites (unique 10 km grid cells +/- some distinct approximate localities)
adultlive = 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
pupaextracted pupa;   pupa ex larva = reared pupa from larva
larvaextracted 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.
Plant family
Code records % host plant taxa
F Fabaceae 20 100% 1
Position in larval host
positionrecordssitesadult deadlarva
stem201191
Host plant notes

The label of the single Tintinara paratype specimen states "on Banksia". I consistently found adults on foliage of Golden Wattles Acacia pycnantha in four different years on a hilltop in the northern Mt Lofty Ranges. Eventually I discovered it breeding there, with the extraction of 19 dead adults (or remains thereof) from the base of a single old Large-leaf Eutaxia Eutaxia diffusa bush.

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
sizeThe ellipse is the correct size when printed, indicative on a desktop screen, and likely to be wrong on a mobile device.