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Photo#190450
Metallic Wood-boring Beetle - Agrilus otiosus - male

Metallic Wood-boring Beetle - Agrilus otiosus - Male
Horner Park, Richmond Hill (N43º52'20.2"W079º24'45.6"elev.199m), York Region, Ontario, Canada
June 5, 2008
Size: 5.5 mm
A slender Agrilus. I'm not sure of the type of plant it was on, and did not photograph it either. I thought it was something in the Caprifoliaceae, but am unsure. So I will try to describe it from memory:
Medium-sized open shrub ~7' tall; leaves probably alternate, simple with alternating large and small teeth - visible in photo. Fruits arise along stem in small clusters, in an arrangement not unlike that of Pin Cherry. These were greenish (unripe) when I found them, round and maybe slightly oblong, and appeared to be covered in a powdery coating. No knobs or flower remnants, as I recall. Don't know if all this information helps.

Images of this individual: tag all
Metallic Wood-boring Beetle - Agrilus otiosus - male Metallic Wood-boring Beetle - Agrilus otiosus - male Metallic Wood-boring Beetle - Agrilus otiosus - male

Moved
Moved from Agrilus.

Moved

Likely...
...something in the Agrilus otiosus species-group - host plant may or may not be helpful, but species IDs in this group are generally not possible from photos.

 
Thanks Ted, that was quick.
I guess this is one of the species that require dissection to identify?

 
Actually...
...males in this group can often be ID'd without dissection based on a suite of secondary sexual characters - females lack them and are essentially impossible to ID without association with males. Dissection of the male genitalia would be quite conclusive.

 
Well, I can't tell
... what gender this individual is. Assuming this is a male ... if it's possible to photograph some of these secondary sexual characters, where would they be located?
I might as well frass this image if species ID isn't possible. The Agrilus pages are already packed with unidentified images.

 
Here goes nothing...
I posted ventral and frontal shots ... don't know how much help they are. Still of some value, I guess, since BugGuide has few of these angles for Agrilus.

 
Agrilus otiosus...
...the namesake of the species-group. The specimen is a male, which can be distinguished from males of other species in the group by the following combination of characters: antennomeres not setose, last abdominal ventrite simple, prosternal margin not emarginate, prehumeral carinae present, lower frons with dense white hairs, and pronotum bicolored dorsally. Phew!

And you were ready to frass it! ;-)

 
Wow...
You blew me away with that :-) It worked out so well; I can see all the features you listed in the specimen images. Thanks for you great help, and for being so patient with me!

So I gather that this should go to a new page, and not just the "no taxon otiosus group" in the Agrilus page, correct?

 
No problem...
...it's all fun.

Yes, this is the species Agrilus otiosus, it'll need it's own page.

 
In general...
...the characters needed for identification of Agrilus (in addition to a good dorsal view) are frons, antennae, tarsal claws, prosternum, metatibial apex, and dorsal and ventral abdominal apices. Piece of cake!

Definitive host plant association can be helpful sometimes, but not always.