Texas Beetle Information

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Riley's Elegant Canopy Beetle

Agra rileyi Erwin 2017

Family Carabidae, Subfamily Harpalinae, Tribe Lebiini


 

Agra oblongopunctata oblongopunctata Chevrolat 1835

Texas: Hidalgo Co.
17 km SE McAllen
July 28-30, 1976

Specimen curated in the UTIC, Austin, TX


Range: Cameron, Hidalgo and Starr Counties south to Central America

Similar Species: There are 520 Neotropical species of Agra, of which two species reach southmost Texas (Ball & Bousquet 2001)

Flight Period: April to October in Texas

Biology

Little is know about the way of life of the species of Agra, except that adults are arboreal, many living in the high canopy of tropical evergreen forests; some individuals are attracted to light sources. (Ball & Bousquet 2001)

Note: The foremost living authority on this group is Terry L. Erwin, Curator of Coleoptera, Chairman, Department of Entomology, Smithsonian

Biography: Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat (1799-1884) was a French entomologist - Wikipedia


References:

Ball, G.E. & Y. Bousquet. 2001. Carabidae Latreille, 1810, Pp. 32-132, In: Arnett, R.H. and M.C. Thomas (editors). American Beetles, Volume I: Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL. xvi + 443 pp.

Casale A. 1998. Phylogeny and biogeography of Calleidina (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Lebiini). Pp. 381–428 in: G.E. Ball, A. Casale, A. Vigna Taglianti (editors). Phylogeny and Classification of Caraboidea (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Lebiini). Atti, Museo Reginale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, 543 pp.

Chevrolat, L.A.A. 1835. Coléoptères du Mexique, Fascicle 4, [70 pp.], Jan. 1835; Fascicle 5, [50 pp.], Jan. 1835; Fascicle 6, [48 pp.], June 1835; Fascicle 8, [68 pp.], Sept. 1835. Strasbourg.

Erwin, T.L. 1991. How Many Species Are There?: Revisited. Conservation Biology, 5(3): 330-333.

Erwin, T.L. 1991. Natural History of the Carabid Beetles at the BIOLAT Rio Manu, Pakitza, Peru. Revista Peruana de Entomologia, 33: 1-85.

Erwin, T.L. 2017. Agra Fabricius (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Harpalinae: Lebiini: Agrina), arboreal beetles of Neotropical forests: The rare, Non-Neotropical Texas species at the generic northern limit, with notes on their way of life. The Coleopterists Bulletin 71(4): 639-651.

Townsend, C.H.T. 1902. Contribution to a knowledge of the coleopterous fauna of the lower Rio Grande valley in Texas and Tamaulipas, the biological notes and special reference to geological distribution. Transactions of the Texas Academy of Science 5: 49-101.


11 Jan 2017  © Mike Quinn / Texas Entomology / Texas Beetle Information