Beetle - Brachiacantha - BugGuide.Net

Moved

… Abigail Parker, 20 January, 2014 - 7:27am

Moved

… Abigail Parker, 7 June, 2011 - 1:03pm

I'm going with B. ursina

Of the three most similar species - B. decempustulata, B. felina, and B. ursina - B. decempustulata does not occur in Minnesota. B. felina just barely reaches the southernmost edge of the state. B. ursina's range includes all of Minnesota and it's the most common of the three species.

… Abigail Parker, 7 June, 2011 - 1:00pm

I don't know why...

...Gordon left MN out of the range map for decempustulata, but he did. It's rarely seen apparently but does occur fairly widely in Minnesota, and was reported by W.M. Stehr in 1930's The Coccinellidae of Minnesota. This was also somehow overlooked by Fauske et al., who published it again as a "new" state record 73 years late.

… W. Steffens, 18 January, 2014 - 10:30pm

thanks for that information

It's definitely good to know about the additional range information for B. decempustulata - I'll add that to the species page here on BugGuide.

I can't say from this photo that it is or isn't B. ursina, given the new information about the range overlap; for B. decempustulata, the edges of the spots seem too orange. (I realize color is not necessarily diagnostic, but I've never seen a photo of a live specimen of B. ursina that didn't have some orange on it, nor a photo of B. decempustulata with spots that weren't all the same uniform cream color.)

I'm going to move this over to "unidentified ursina group."

… Abigail Parker, 20 January, 2014 - 7:26am

Moved

Moved from Brachiacantha.

… Abigail Parker, 14 March, 2010 - 3:44pm

Thanks, Abby, for curating them

Moved from Brachiacantha albifrons.

… v belov, 10 October, 2009 - 1:13pm

color, pattern, and location don't match B. albifrons

Every illustration and description of every variation of B. albifrons in Gordon,(1) Leng (1911, "The Species of Brachyacantha of North and South America"), and Acorn(2) has pale elytra with dark markings; none have dark elytra and pale markings like this individual. B. albifrons also has two maculae per elytron, not five. Also, the maps in those resources do not show B. albifrons's Minnesota range as far south and east as Hennepin County.

If this is a variation of B. albifrons not in any of those works, and has been identified to species by characteristics not visible in these photos (examination of genitalia, for instance), that would be great to know. Otherwise, however, I'd suggest moving to genus level and trying to find another species ID that would fit. There are a lot of Brachiacantha species and I'm afraid they can't all be ID'd by external characteristics alone!

… Abigail Parker, 10 October, 2009 - 1:04pm

close enough: must be Brachiacantha albifrons

nice find -- and the first live pic of this sp.!

… v belov, 30 June, 2009 - 4:09am