taxonID	type	description	language	source
03E087DCFFE9A5297CD3FF55297EF9D2.taxon	description	AND PAOLO AUDISIO Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “ Charles Darwin ” Sapienza Universitá di Roma Via Borelli 50, I- 00161 Rome, ITALY paolo. audisio @ uniroma 1. it The sap beetle Epuraea (Haptoncus) ocularis Fairmaire, 1849 was recently discovered in the Houston area of Texas in the United States, which makes this the first published record of this species in North America. The species was previously known to be established in the New World only from Hawaii (Sharp 1878; Ewing and Cline 2004, 2005). Kirejtshuk (1998) stated that introductions into the USA from Taiwan and Japan had been recorded, however, no references were given and no published works have been found to validate this statement. Historical records (Grouvelle 1913) indicate that prior to modern global transportation systems the species was typically found in Southeast Asia, parts of the Orient, the Indian subcontinent, and some tropical areas of Africa. Over the past two decades, this species has become one of the most pervasive sap beetle species in the world, being transported mostly through global agricultural commerce into previously undocumented areas. New records have been reported for this species throughout the world, most specifically from Europe, i. e. the Canary Islands (Jelínek 1997), Italy (Audisio 2002; Busato 2002), the Maltese Islands (Mifsud and Audisio 2008), Austria (Kapp and Brandstetter 2003; Schuh et al. 2006), Germany (Renner 2000; Konzelmann 2001; Bellmann et al. 2001; Wenzel 2004; Burgarth 2005), France (Ponel and Roge 2000; Roge 2000; Callot 2003), but also from the far eastern reaches of the South Pacific on Henderson Island (Benton 1995). The recent catalogue of Palearctic Coleoptera (Jelínek and Audisio 2007) indicates a widespread distribution throughout much of that region, with a rapid expansion in western areas gained chiefly in the last few years of the past century. This report of E. ocularis in the Nearctic was accomplished through collection by Graham Montgomery, and dissemination of images through the website BugGuide (www. bugguide. com). The first author was alerted to the images and contacted the collector to procure more specimens and to have them sent for identification and vouchering. A series of 10 specimens are deposited at the California State Collection of Arthropods. Data labels for the specimens are provided here verbatim with a “; ” delineating line breaks. Label data is as follows: USA: TX: Harris Co., Houston; residence on Fair Knoll Way; 29 ° 35 ′ 10 ″ N 95 ° 8 ′ 4 ″ W; G. Montgomery collr.; ex: decaying watermelon. Blue voucher labels were placed on the specimens underneath the data labels, which read “ E. (H.) ocularis Fairmaire; det. A. R. Cline 2010; CSCA-voucher (ARC 2010) ”. The introduction of E. ocularis into mainland North America will likely lead to establishment (if not already established in the Houston area) and eventual spread of the species across the continent. Although the origin of the species remains unclear, since it was already widespread in the Old World tropics by the time of the first Nitidulidae catalogue (Grouvelle 1913), E. ocularis likely is an Old World tropical element. Thus, the subtropical climate of the southeastern United States will help facilitate the species’ initial spread. Recent introductions into the European interior, possessing a more temperate climate, and the presence of another member of the subgenus Haptoncus Murray, Epuraea (Haptoncus) luteola Erichson, in the Nearctic suggest that northward encroachment of this introduced species is also probable. Likewise, the lack of host specificity, natural enemies, and other constraining factors are all sympathetic to the eventual widespread dissemination of this species throughout the New World. Although E. ocularis does not likely pose a serious threat to agricultural commodities within the continental United States, it may become a nuisance pest. On the other hand, this species has been recently studied in Japan as a candidate pollinator for Annona L. flowers (Annonaceae) in greenhouses (Tsukada et al. 2005).	en	Cline, Andrew R., Audisio, Paolo (2011): Epuraea (Haptoncus) OcularisFairmaire (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) Recently Found in the U. S. A., with Comments on Nearctic Members ofEpuraeaErichson. The Coleopterists Bulletin 65 (1): 24-26, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065x-65.1.24, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1649/0010-065x-65.1.24
