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Dohrnia simplex Champion, 1895 (a species of fake blister-beetle)

Basis for Tasmanian occurrence

Semmens, T.D., McQuillan, P.B. & Hayhurst, G. (1992). Catalogue of the Insects of Tasmania. Government of Tasmania: Department of Primary Industry, 104 pp. (as Dohrnia simplex)

TMAG collections

Classification

Order: Coleoptera

Suborder: Polyphaga

Superfamily: Tenebrionoidea

Family: Oedemeridae

Subfamily: Oedemerinae

Tribe: Asclerini

Morphology

Typical length (mm): 10
Flightedness: winged and assumed capable of flight

Ecology

Assumed larval feeding: wood-feeder
Association with dead wood or old trees: obligately saproxylic

Ecological attributes: — Affiliated with larger-diameter logs (Yee et al., 2006) — Affiliated with larger-diameter logs in mature (unlogged) forest (Yee, 2005) — Associated with mudguts (Yee et al., 2006) — May occupy logs or trunks of Eucalyptus obliqua, at least temporarily, since found having emerged within a year of felling (Grove & Bashford, 2003) — May occupy logs or trunks of Eucalyptus obliqua, at least temporarily, since found having emerged within six years of felling (Grove et al., 2009).

Collection method(s) for TMAG material: — Baited trapping (funnel trap) — Emergence trapping from log of Eucalyptus obliqua — Flight intercept trapping (trough below Malaise trap) — Hand collection (substrate not specified) — Hand collection from flowers of Eucryphia lucida (Ettershanks & Ettershanks, 1993) — Hand collection from flowers of Helichrysum purpurascens (Ettershanks & Ettershanks, 1993) — Hand collection from flowers of Leptospermum sp. (Ettershanks & Ettershanks, 1993) — Malaise trapping — Pitfall trapping — Sticky trapping on Eucalyptus obliqua — Trapping using a range of devices placed in crown of Eucalyptus obliqua (Bar-Ness, 2005) — Vane trapping.

Source ecological literature:
Grove, S.J. & Bashford, R. (2003). Beetle assemblages from the Warra log decay project: insights from the first year of sampling. Tasforests 14: 117-129.
Grove, S.J. (2009a). A decade of deadwoodology at Warra. Tas. Nat. 131: 25-35.
Grove, S.J. (2009b). Beetles and fuelwood harvesting: a retrospective study from Tasmania’s southern forests. Tasforests 18: 77-99.
Baker, S.C. (2006b). Ecology and conservation of ground-dwelling beetles in managed wet eucalypt forest: edge and riparian effects. PhD thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Bar-Ness, Y. (2005). Crown structure and the canopy arthropod biodiversity of 100 year old and old-growth Tasmanian Eucalyptus obliqua. Msc thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Bar-Ness, Y.D. et al. (2006). Age and distance effects on the canopy arthropod composition of old-growth and 100-year-old Eucalyptus obliqua trees. For. Ecol. Manage. 226: 290-298.
Grove, S. et al. (2009). A long-term experimental study of saproxylic beetle … succession in Tasmanian Eucalyptus … logs… In: Fattorini, S. (Ed.), Insect Ecology and Conservation. Research Signpost, pp. 71-114.
Harrison, K.S. (2007). Saproxylic beetles associated with habitat features in Eucalyptus obliqua trees in the southern forests of Tasmania. PhD thesis, Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Yee, M. (2005). The ecology and habitat requirements of saproxylic beetles native to Tasmanian wet eucalypt forests: potential impacts of commercial forestry practices. PhD thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Yee, M. et al. (2006). Brown rot in inner heartwood: why large logs support characteristic … beetle assemblages … In Grove, S.J. & Hanula, J.L. (eds.) Insect biodiv. and dead wood, pages 42-56. USDA For. Serv., SRS.

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