Notes on the Life-History and Early Stages of Brachys Ovatus Web., and Brachys Aerosus Melsh

Abstract

Packard in his "Forest Insects" records B. aerosus as occurring on oak early in summer in Maine and late in May near Providence, R.I., and states t h a t Gillette (Canad. Ent. July, 1887) reared i t from larvx in poplar leaves, the mines being finished in October and the beetles appearing early the following May. Concerning B. ovatus, this species is recorded by Packard as follows "on laurel oak; imago issues latter part of April and early May (Riley's unpublished notes) ." Gillette also reports rearing the beetle from a larva mining a leaf of either red or black oak. Felt (N. Y. State Mus. hZem. 8; 2, p. 512-3) states t h a t B. aerosus was taken while feeding on elm during the latter half of May, and that B. ovatys was common on scrub oak the latter part of May and June. Blatchley in his ' b~o~e o~t e r a of Indiana" records aerosus as throughout the state, frequent, May 16-June 18, occurring on oak, hickory, elm and ovatus also as throughout the state and frequent, May 16-July 13, on oak in the leaves of which the larvz dwell. According t o Smith (Rept. N. J. State Mus. 1909) aerosus is found throughout New Jersey, not rare, on oak, May, June and ovatus is common throughout the state, June t o August on oak. Burke (U. S. Dept. Agric. Bull. NO. 437, 1917) summarizes the distribution, common habits and host trees of the genus Brachys as follows:-"Eastern and Central States, leaf miner in leaves : Populus ?, alder (Alnus), Fagus ?, chestnut (Castanea), oak (Quercus) ,

A New Species ofBrachysDejean, 1833 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from the Eastern United States Using an Unusual Host

“…Occupied mines in E. repens leaves were observed and collected by CSE between 7 January 2012 and 12 April 2014. As observed by Weiss and Nicolay (1919) in other Brachys species, the egg is deposited singly on the upper surface of a leaf, and its clear, flat, shining shell, approximately 1 mm in diameter, is still visible long after hatching (Fig. 2).…”

“…Evidence of adult feeding on both E. repens and oak is like that of other Brachys species on oak and other leaves (as illustrated by Weiss and Nicolay 1919). The leaf is chewed all the way through, always from the margin, forming elongate, irregular, sometimes branching channels approximately 2 mm wide (Fig.…”

“…In addition to the species described here, collections in Texas have yielded additional new species (Hespenheide 2015). In the United States, all 12 species are known to associate with oaks (Quercus spp., Fagaceae), although at least one species, B. aerosus, has been reared from additional hosts (Weiss and Nicolay 1919), and it and others have been collected as adults on other woody plants. Female-biased sex ratios have been reported for B. ovatus (Wellso et al 1976) and B. tesselatus (Lawson et al 2001).…”

Morphology of the adult and immatures of a striking new species of leaf-mining Brachys Dejean from Brazil (Buprestidae, Agrilinae)

“…Representatives of genus Brachys are associated with a series of different plants families as Hamamelidaceae, Sapindaceae, Salicaceae and Tiliaceae (Weiss & Nicolay, 1919;Nicolay & Weiss, 1923), also with records of associations with Gramineae (Obenberger, 1937) and perennial terrestrial vine Epigaea repens L., Ericaceae (Hespenheide & Eiseman, 2016). In the USA, 12 Brachys species live on Fagaceae, often on oaks (Hespenheide & Eiseman, 2016).…”

“…Immatures of T. schaefferi were described by Story et al (1979) based on material from North America. Regarding to Brachys species, Weiss & Nicolay (1919) briefly described the larvae and pupae of B. aerosus and B. ovatus from New Jersey, USA. The larva of the latter was also partially illustrated by Böving & Craighead (1953).…”