Buprestidae of South Australia
( Jewel beetles )
by Peter J. Lang
Diphucrania trimentula   (Barker, 2001)
subfamily  Agrilinae » tribe  Coraebini » subtribe  Cisseina
Diphucrania trimentula   Adult images
Diphucrania trimentula, PL6046, female, on Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata, SL, 5.9 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL6046, female, on Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata, SL, 5.9 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL6046, female, on Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata, SL, 5.9 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL6046, female, on Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata, SL, 5.9 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL5978, male, SL, 5.3 × 2.1 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL5978 aedeagus, SL Diphucrania trimentula, PL5978, male, SL, 5.3 × 2.1 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL6046, female, on Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata, SL, 5.9 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL6046, female, on Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata, SL, 5.9 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL6046, female, on Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata, SL, 5.9 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL6046, female, on Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata, SL, 5.9 × 2.4 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL5978, male, SL, 5.3 × 2.1 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL0602, female, from Allocasuarina verticillata, SL, 5.3 × 2.1 mm Diphucrania trimentula, PL0602, female, from Allocasuarina verticillata, SL, 5.3 × 2.1 mm
Actual
size¹:
5.5 mm
×
2.2 mm
Measurements (mm)
malefemale
L15.3
n = 15.6
5.3 – 5.9
n = 2
L25.2
n = 15.8
n = 1
W2.1
n = 12.2
2.1 – 2.35
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 trimentula  Distinctive features

A small species, covered in a dense array of whitish setae patches, with the frons deeply depressed between the eyes, and an unusual tripartite aedeagus. Elytra black with golden reflections about the scutellum, pronotum with deep blue reflections, and scutellum bronze-gold.

Notes

Named for its distinctive tripartite aedeagus which has a pair of brush-tipped accessory arms arising from near its base.

The first SA record is an early Blackburn collection from Quorn (in the southern Flinders Ranges), held in the SA Museum and cited by Barker, 2001.

It appears not to have been recorded again in SA until December 2008 when I collected a single specimen in the Barossa Range.

More recently, specimens were collected from the Adelaide Parklands by A. and P. Stolarski, in late November 2023 and in early February 2024.

Distribution
SA Regions¹:  FRSL
Australian States:  SAVICNSWQLD
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 trimentula  (total of 3 beetles)
1
1
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
Adult host plants
beetles sites SA regions¹ family position on host plant
11SLC
Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata11SLS
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
C Casuarinaceae 1 50% 1
S Sapindaceae 1 50% 1
Position on adult host
positionbeetlessites
on foliage or non-flowering plant22
Host plant notes

The holotype and 'allotype' from Pilliga East Forest in NSW were collected from Dodonaea sp. in mid-September. The paratype collections are from a wide variety of adult hosts including Acacia longifolia (which also occurs in SA), as well as A. linifolia, Leptospermum, Baeckea, Dodonaea, Jacksonia, and flowers of Bursaria.

In SA, the single adult collected in the Barossa Range was obtained by sweeping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) foliage.

The third SA collection was made from general sweeping of a variety of plants in an area revegetated with local native species. However, a second specimen was obtained later from the same area by sweeping foliage of Sticky Hopbush, Dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata. Evidence pointing to Dodonaea being a larval host is mounting.

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.