Ablabus pulcher (Blackburn, 1888) (a species of cylindrical bark-beetle)

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 Bitoma pulchra)

TMAG collections

Typical length (mm): 3.4
Flightedness: winged and assumed capable of flight

Morphology (characterised by L. Forster): — Antennae with two-segmented club — Head with labial palps absent and with frontal ridges raised above antennae — Pronotum with margins explanate, lobate anteriorly and serrate posteriorly.

Source literature on morphology and taxonomy (*primary taxonomic source, where identified):
Carter, H. & Zeck, E. (1937). A monograph of the Australian Colydiidae. Proc. Lin. Soc. NSW 62(3/4): 181-208. [Page 196].

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

Collection method(s) for TMAG material: — Knockdown spraying of bark of Eucalyptus sp..

Source ecological literature:
Grove, S.J. & Yaxley, B. (2005). Wildlife habitat strips and native forest ground-active beetle assemblages in plantation nodes in northeast Tasmania. Aust. J. Entom. 44 (4): 331-343.