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Scopodes tasmanicus Bates, 1878 (a species of ground-beetle)

Basis for Tasmanian occurrence
Classification
Order: Coleoptera

Suborder: Adephaga

Superfamily: Caraboidea

Family: Carabidae

Subfamily: Harpalinae

Tribe: Pentagonicini

Morphology
Typical length (mm): 6
Flightedness: winged and assumed capable of flight

Source literature on morphology and taxonomy (*primary taxonomic source, where identified):
Sloane, T.G. (1920). The Carabidae of Tasmania. Proc. Linn. Soc. NSW 45: 113-178.

Ecology
Assumed larval feeding: predator
Association with dead wood or old trees: at least facultatively saproxylic

Ecological attributes: — Affiliated with young (ex-clearfelled) forest (Michaels, 1999).

Collection method(s) for TFIC material: — Baited trapping (funnel trap) — Emergence trapping from log of Eucalyptus obliqua — Flight intercept trapping (trough below Malaise trap) — Pitfall trapping.

Source ecological literature:
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.
Grove, S.J. (2009c). Do wildlife habitat strips act as refuges for mature-forest carabid beetle assemblages? A case-study in Tasmanian wet eucalypt forest, Australia. For. Ecol. Manage. 259: 496-504.
Michaels, K.F. & McQuillan, P.B. (1995). Impact of commercial forest management on geophilous Carabid beetles (Coleoptera; Carabidae) in tall, wet Eucalyptus obliqua forest in southern Tasmania. Aust. J. Ecol. 20: 316-323.
Michaels, K.F. (1999a). Carabid beetles as biodiversity and ecological indicators. PhD thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Taylor, R.J. et al. (2000). Occurrence of old-growth carabid beetles in retained unlogged strips in … southern Tasmania. In: Saunders, D. et al. . (Eds.), Nature Conservation 5…. Surrey Beatty, pp. 120-127.
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.

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