Thanks, Patrick. A search for Typocerus in the Ontario database found 6 species: acuticauda, lugubris, octonotatus, sparsus, velutinus, zebra. Here's my attempt to narrow it down: I haven't seen an image of octonotatus but presume from the name that it has 8 spots. T. sparsus, velutinus, and zebra are all heavily marked, and Giff Beaton's image of lugubris looks mostly black. That leaves acuticauda, and I can't guess what it might look like other than being "sharp-tailed". Of course, if any of the above species have unmarked forms, that would complicate things.

Robin-

We have multiple representatives of each of the species you mentioned as occuring in Ontario (plus a few additional species) identified by Chemsak or Yanega in our collection, and I'd have to go with your process of elimination determination- this looks most like Typocerus acuticauda. While we have a few specimens of T. velutinus that are poorly maculated, most have a strong banding pattern (as do the other species except, as you noted, T. lugubris.

I can't say that this is a "for sure" determination, but I'd be faily comfortable with it...

cheers,

zack

I think Yanega (1) says T. velutina/velutinus can sometimes be weakly marked. T. acuticauda has a distinctive layer of fine hairs around the pronotum--illustrated by Yanega. I don't see that on your photo. I do, perhaps, see a faint yellow barring pattern like T. velutina. Hard to say. If I had to bet, I'd bet on T. velutina for this one, but it would be a foolish bet.

A tough genus.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina