Buprestidae of South Australia
( Jewel beetles )
by Peter J. Lang
Hypocisseis suturalis   (Saunders, 1868)
subfamily  Agrilinae » tribe  Coraebini » subtribe  Cisseina
Hypocisseis suturalis   Adult images
Hypocisseis suturalis, PL0395, female, on Exocarpos cupressiformis, SL, 8.6 × 3.6 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL0395, female, on Exocarpos cupressiformis, SL, 8.6 × 3.6 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL0358, female, on Exocarpos sparteus, MU, 8.3 × 3.4 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3457F, male, SE, 7.9 × 3.0 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3457E, female, from Exocarpos sparteus, SE, 7.6 × 3.1 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL0358, female, MU, 8.3 × 3.4 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL0395, female, on Exocarpos cupressiformis, SL, 8.6 × 3.6 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL0395, on Exocarpos cupressiformis, SL, 8.6 × 3.6 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, iNat-193263848, on Exocarpos aphyllus, MU, photo by Janet Whitington Hypocisseis suturalis, iNat-193263848, on Exocarpos aphyllus, MU, photo by Janet Whitington Hypocisseis suturalis, iNat-193263848, on Exocarpos aphyllus, MU, photo by Janet Whitington Hypocisseis suturalis, iNat-193263848, on Exocarpos aphyllus, feeding from nearly open flower buds, MU, photo by Janet Whitington Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3457, adult host plant, Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski
Actual
size¹:
8.0 mm
×
3.3 mm
Measurements (mm)
malefemale
L17.5
7.15 – 7.9
 n = 68.3
7.6 – 8.6
 n = 10
L27.3
7.05 – 7.5
 n = 28.1
7.8 – 8.4
 n = 3
W3.0
2.8 – 3.05
 n = 63.4
3.05 – 3.65
 n = 10
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
Hypocisseis suturalis  Distinctive features

Head with a strongly depressed frons, sides of pronotum and posterior elytra with areas of dense white scale-hairs, midline with coppery to gold reflections, and abdominal ventrites with bluish reflections.

Notes

With unusual blotchy white and dark grey-bronze patterning, this species may be camouflaged by its resemblance to a small bird dropping when sitting on its host plant.

Distribution
SA Regions¹:  NU,  GT,  EP,  MU,  SL
Australian States:  WA,  SA,  VIC,  NSW,  QLD
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 Hypocisseis suturalis  (total actual records: 25 beetles)
3
6 10 3 1
2
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Legend
9
number of active beetles, actually recorded in that quarter-month
actual count > 3 (median)
actual count <= 3 (median)
live non-emerged (inactive) beetles only
Adult host plants
beetles sites SA regions¹ family position on host plant
Exocarpos sparteus207MU, SES
Cassinia laevis ssp. laevis21FRA
Exocarpos cupressiformis22SLS
Exocarpos aphyllus11MUS
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
S Santalaceae 23 92% 3
A Asteraceae 2 8% 1
Position on adult host
positionbeetlessites
on flowering plant64
on foliage or non-flowering plant33
on plant (unspecified)165
Hypocisseis suturalis Breeding record images
Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3441, larva, in Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3441, larva, SE Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3458, larva, in Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3458, larva, in Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3458A, larva, SE, 22.0 × 3.7 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3458A, larva, SE, 22.0 × 3.7 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3586A, prepupa, from Exocarpos sparteus, SE Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3586B, prepupa, (late stage), SE, 11.0 × 3.0 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3587, pupa, in Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski, 10.1 × 4.9 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3587, pupa, in Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski, 10.1 × 4.9 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3587, pupa, from Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski, 10.1 × 4.9 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3587, pupa, SE, 10.1 × 4.9 mm Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3461, dead non-emerged adult, in Exocarpos sparteus, MU Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3461, dead non-emerged adult, in Exocarpos sparteus, MU, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3461, dead non-emerged adult, in Exocarpos sparteus, MU, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3461, dead non-emerged adult, in Exocarpos sparteus, SE Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3461, dead non-emerged adult, in Exocarpos sparteus, SE Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3461, dead non-emerged adult, in Exocarpos sparteus, SE Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3441, larval host plant, Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3441, larval host plant, Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3441, larval host plant, Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski Hypocisseis suturalis, PL3441, larval host plant, Exocarpos sparteus, SE, photo by A.M.P. Stolarski
Larval host plant
records sites SA regions¹ family adult deadadult ex pupapupapupa ex larvalarva
Exocarpos sparteus92MU, SES11115
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
S Santalaceae 9 100% 1
Position in larval host
positionrecordssitesadult deadadult ex pupapupapupa ex larvalarva
stem base111
stem811115
Host plant notes

The discovery of adult host records in SA, two from Native Cherry Exocarpos cupressiformis and another two from Slender Cherry E. sparteus (illustrated here for both hosts) led to targeted searching of Exocarpos for evidence of larval host usage. A.M.P. Stolarski discovered the breeding records in E. sparteus presented here, which are the first for that host species and for SA. Turner 2001d found it breeding in E. cupressiformis in NSW.

In December 2023 Janet Whitington photographed an adult on a third SA Exocarpos species, Leafless Ballart E. aphyllus. Her copyrighted images (cropped) are shown here with permission.

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.