Loxandrus duryi - Oxycrepis duryi

Loxandrus taxonomic update:

Bousquet (2006) synonymizes Loxandrus vitiosus Allen, 1972 with L. vulneratus Casey, 1918 in Coleopterists Bulletin 60(2):145-157. Clues for distinguishing it from L. duryi are given (see pages 151, 154).

Nice catch. Save one for me if you find more. Thanks.

… Peter W. Messer, 4 July, 2011 - 4:15pm

Will do

I don't know if I caught any others last night, but I know I caught several that look like this earlier this year in Kentucky, but I have yet to sort thru my samples.

… Brad Barnd, 4 July, 2011 - 4:19pm

Loxandrus duryi-micans-vulneratus complex:

I'm currently studying two female specimens of tentative Loxandrus vulneratus (=vitiosus) from the same locality in VA. Regarding published geographic distributions, only member L. vulneratus is known in VA. Allen (1972) gives few external clues to help separate closely related species. Possibly the best reported clue is as follows. In L. micans and L. duryi all the elytral striae are equally well impressed basally. However, in L. vulneratus the 7th stria basally is distinctly weaker compared to its other well impressed striae. I see this character trait in my two specimens.

Brad, please tell me if your specimen posted here does indeed fit the above criteria for L. duryi? Also, have any extra specimens come your way that you could share? Thanks.

… Peter W. Messer, 25 February, 2012 - 9:32am

Loxandrus

The 7th stria basally is completely evanescent. I assume then that this is actually L. vulneratus?

I did not find any others from Indiana last year. I think I have some similar ones in my blacklight samples from Kentucky, but I have yet to sort thru them. I'll take a jump into those once I finish whats currently in my sample dish.

… Brad Barnd, 25 February, 2012 - 2:47pm

I expected occurrence in IN to be L. duryi,

not L. vulneratus. Yours could still be L. vulneratus but that would mean a significant range extension to the northwest. Therefore, I will seek another opinion on the relative merits of using the 7th stria as a character trait. More later.

… Peter W. Messer, 25 February, 2012 - 4:57pm

Depth of 7th elytral stria as a species separator

remains unresolved for the difficult species groups of Loxandrus according to comments received today from Yves Bousquet. Apparently the (published) state of knowledge for externally separating Loxandrus has not advanced since the combined works of Allen (1972) and Bousquet (2006). Bousquet underscored the need to study many genitalic-confirmed specimens of the same species before concluding that a particular external trait is postively correlated. Bousquet recalls that he had observed nothing special about the 7th elytral stria across the various species.

Still, I'm (tentatively) naming my two female specimens Loxandrus vulneratus since they do fit the description of the 7th elytral stria by Allen (1972) and the locality is right. Not yet sure what to say about your specimen Brad. Gathering more specimens in your area would certainly help.

… Peter W. Messer, 28 February, 2012 - 6:52pm