Buprestidae of South Australia
( Jewel beetles )
by Peter J. Lang
Diphucrania cupreicollis   (Hope, 1846)
subfamily  Agrilinae » tribe  Coraebini » subtribe  Cisseina
Diphucrania cupreicollis   Adult images
Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL0946, male, on Acacia ligulata, MU, 7.3 × 2.8 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL0946, male, on Acacia ligulata, MU, 7.3 × 2.8 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL0946, male, MU, 7.3 × 2.8 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL0946, male, from Acacia ligulata foliage, MU, 7.3 × 2.8 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, from Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.8 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, on Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.8 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, on Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.8 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6214, female, from Eremophila longifolia foliage, EP, 6.2 × 2.5 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL0946, male, on Acacia ligulata, MU, 7.3 × 2.8 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL0946, male, on Acacia ligulata, MU, 7.3 × 2.8 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, on Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.8 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, on Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.8 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, on Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.8 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6214, female, on Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.2 × 2.5 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6214, female, on Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.2 × 2.5 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL0946, male, from Acacia ligulata foliage, MU, 7.3 × 2.8 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL0946, male, from Acacia ligulata foliage, MU, 7.3 × 2.8 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, from Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.8 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, from Eremophila longifolia, EP, 6.8 × 2.7 mm Diphucrania cupreicollis, male and female Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, adult host plant, Eremophila longifolia, EP, photo by Elia Pirtle Diphucrania cupreicollis, PL6213, female, adult host plant, Eremophila longifolia and habitat, EP, photo by Elia Pirtle
Actual
size¹:
6.7 mm
×
2.7 mm
Measurements (mm)
malefemale
L17.3
n = 16.5
6.15 – 6.75
n = 2
L26.3
6.05 – 6.65
n = 2
W2.8
n = 12.6
2.5 – 2.7
n = 2
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 cupreicollis  Distinctive features

Pronotum with strongly impressed dimple-shaped foveae one on either side of the medial boss in the basal half; conspicuous, dense, white, often flocculent scale-hair patches in pronotal foveae and on the blackish elytra where the eight major patches form a circular pattern. Males with pronotum, scutellum and most of ventral side below prosternum green-gold to gold or copper. Females broader, with a blackish pronotum (dark grey +/- weak purple-bronze reflections) and superficially resembling D. notulata; sometimes with weak blue reflections above, and ventral side below pronotum softly metallic (violet-) blue. Body shape more elongate and not as thick and broad in the anterior as in both sexes of D. cupreola.

Notes

This species has strong sexual dichromatism, with males and females being differently coloured in their upper parts and undersides. It appears that Hope 1846a mistook them for two different species. He described Ethon cupreicolle with a male holotype from 'Moriatta' (referring to Morialta on the Adelaide hills escarpment), and followed it in the same paper with Ethon aenicolle based on a female holotype from Adelaide. Saunders 1868a transferred them to Cisseis (now Diphucrania) and relegated aenicolle to a variety of cupreicollis. Eventually Carter 1923a recognised them as different sexes of the same taxon and made aenicolle a synonym of cupreicollis. His key entry for Cisseis cupreicollis states: ' Pronotum copper (male) or bluish (female) ..' A Museums Victoria collection of J.G.O. Tepper from Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley of SA (most likely made in the late 19th century) comprises a coppery male and bluish female mounted side by side on the same card.

Although having a wide distribution and extending into arid areas, D. cupreicollis was until recently collected only very rarely in South Australia. The occurrence in MU region is on the eastern edge of the Mt Lofty Ranges.

Distribution
SA Regions¹:  LEFRNLMUSL
Australian States:  NTSAVICNSWQLD
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 cupreicollis  (total actual records: 5 beetles)
1
1 2 1
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 > 1 (median)
actual count <= 1 (median)
Adult host plants
beetles sites SA regions¹ family position on host plant
Eremophila longifolia31EPS
11MUF
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 Scrophulariaceae 3 75% 1
F Fabaceae 1 25% 1
Position on adult host
positionbeetlessites
on flowering plant11
on foliage or non-flowering plant32
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.