Species Chariessa texana

Chariessa texana Wolcott, 1908

Length 6.0-17.0 mm (1) (quite the range!)

Pronotum without two discal black lines, pronotal disc mostly red, with transverse black spot at anterior margin (1)

w., c. & n. TX, + one spmn from OK panhandle - Map (1)(2)

Specimens have emerged from a dead trunk of sugarberry (Celtis laevigata, (Cannabaceae), from wood of the Oklahoma redbud (Cercis reniformi, Fabaceae) infested with Crysobothris analis LeConte (Buprestidae), and from wood of the Texas cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia, Ulmaceae). These beetles were also captured on the persimmon (Diospyros texana, Ebenaceae) and on a willow species (Salix, Salicaceae). They are attracted to light. (1)

Type locality: Texas, Nolan County, Sweetwater (FMNH).

Opitz (2017) examined 1558 specimens of Chariessa pilosa and 101 specimens of C. texana. The male genitalia of these two species are identical, but their pronotal coloration easily separated them, as does, to some extent, their geographic distribution. Chariessa pilosa extends from Texas to southern Canada, mostly east of the Rocky Mountains, whereas C. texana is known only from Texas and Oklahoma.

Thirteen specimens from Texas present an intermediate condition of the pronotal color; the black punctiform spots on the pronotal arch extend posteriorly to reach the pronotal collar, and there is a faint red line in the middle of the dark discal line. I interpret these specimens as hybrids (Fig. 52) from a cross between C. pilosa and C. texana. They have been labeled: Hybrid, Chariessa pilosa/Chariessa texana. (1)

Hybrid, Chariessa pilosa/Chariessa texana

Det. W. Opitz, 2018

Opitz, W. 2017. Classification, natural history, and evolution of the subfamily Peloniinae Opitz (Coleoptera: Cleroidea: Cleridae). Part VIII. Systematics of the checkered beetle genus Chariessa Perty. Insecta Mundi 0574: 1-42. (1)

Wolcott, A.B. 1908. The North American species of Chariessa (Coleoptera). Entomological News 19: 70-72. (Full Text)

Wolcott, A.B. 1910. Notes on some Cleridae of Middle and North America, with descriptions of new species. Field Museum of Natural History, Zool. Ser., 7(10): 339-401. (Full Text)