Spotted Longicorn (Eburophora octoguttata) -male

An attractive dark brown longicorn with medium-length black antennae and thick femurs. Elytra had small pale yellow spots. The beetle would have been about 18 to 20 mm long.
Spotted on black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) - in a national park.
My thanks to WildFlower and Martin Lagerway for their help with the ID.
Note that this particular specimen is a somewhat aberrant colour form with extra spots as compared to the usual "factory issue" Eburophora octoguttata.

comments (9)

WildFlower

Lion

I have found a similar one - Eburophora octoguttata, but the spots are not exactly the same so I don't know if it is of any use. The region and host (Acacia spp.) are the same.
https://apps2.cdfa.ca.gov/publicApps/plant/bycidDB/wdetails.asp?id=20169&w=o
http://www.ento.csiro.au/biology/cerambycidae/info_pages/Eburophora.html
https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:e543239b-9d28-41fd-8931-c5380322824d
https://books.google.bg/books?id=d9OfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=Eburophora&source=bl&ots=XtqnLTR2b_&sig=7Resk53tNtIpsrADgxiDJvYeOv4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirx6ijo83WAhWCd5oKHb7eAsQQ6AEISjAH#v=onepage&q=Eburophora&f=false Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
1. Leuba Ridgway
  
  Lion
  
  Thank you so much WildFlower. I will check all of the information. Description sounds good, with spinose apices and males having shorter antennae. Could be a variant ??. Maybe Eburophora species anyway. Thanks again. Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. Martin Lagerwey
    
    Lion
    
    There are two described Australian species in this genus
    https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:b61c9d59-61e9-48fd-9669-916c4d465601#classification
    It cannot be the first species according to the Longicorn volume by A Slipinski (P 408). E. octoguttata is the only possible described species. I am confident this is correct. Posted 7 years ago
  2. 1. Leuba Ridgway
      
      Lion
      
      I couldn't find anything on E.eburata. So, thanks for the confirmation Martin.This one has chosen to go with a few extra spots perhaps - more interesting. I'll go with E.octoguttata. Thanks to you both. Posted 7 years ago
    2. 1. Pudding4brains
        
        Lion
        
        After browsing through the available pages (on google preview) of the book by Slipinski & Hermes, to me it looks like Eburophora is indeed a very good bet for the genus, but the pattern is so different from all images of octoguttata that I found, that I decided to write the authors of the book and ask for their opinion.
        If it is an Eburophora it just might be an as yet undocumented colour aberration, or maaaayyyyybeeee even an undescribed new species (???) so they _might_ just be interested in the critter too. Then again, maybe it's something completely different or a well known colour form and I was just to daft to find it :o)
        Anyway, @Leuba : It probably wouldn't hurt if you could find a specimen with this pattern again and collect it?!
        Cheers, Arp Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
      2. Pudding4brains
        
        Lion
        
        Mistery solved: Dr. Adam Slipinski replied that he has seen specimen of octoguttata with variable spots much like this one before, so he is confident it should be that species (well done on the initial ID WildFlower!! :o) He goes on to mention that it is not a common species and is happy with the extra record.
        That said, as Hermes Escalona mentioned in his reply, it is always good to be able to study various details of aberrant specimen up close and personal to double check for a possible new species ... ;o)
        Cheers, Arp
        
        P.S. I've uploaded the image by White (1855) to also document the standard markings on JD:
        
        Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
        
        Leuba Ridgway
        
        Lion
        
        Wow - you certainly are no "Pudding4brains" !
        Thank you for your persistence and taking the trouble to write to the authors. Now we not only know that it is E.octoguttata but that it is not common and is one of a few ( ? 2 )on record. I must thank WildFlower and Martin Lagerwey for their help once again.
        Thank you ! Posted 7 years ago
        
        Leuba Ridgway
        
        Lion
        
        entered in error Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago

Pudding4brains

Lion

The original description of the genus Eburophora and the species E. octoguttata White 1855 is here:
http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/20061841
pictured as Plate VIII fig.7 :
http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/20061928
recent images by Slipinski & Escalona here:
https://apps2.cdfa.ca.gov/publicApps/plant/bycidDB/wdetails.asp?id=20169&w=o

The original description of E. eburata (as Sophron eburatus, Pascoe 1865) from South Australia is here:
http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13387976
images by Slipinski & Escalona here:
https://apps2.cdfa.ca.gov/publicApps/plant/bycidDB/wdetails.asp?id=20168&w=o

Waterhouse moves S.eburata to the genus Eburophora in 1874:
http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14921890

From this, it seems that the still valid genus Sophron and Eburophora would probably be quite similar in appearance, but there is only one Aussie species (Sophron inornatus) with a recent image here :
https://apps2.cdfa.ca.gov/publicApps/plant/bycidDB/wdetails.asp?id=20238&w=o

So back to the two Eburophora. To me the pattern on the photo is sufficiently different from both Eburophora to become somewhat suspicious ... maybe we should try to key out the species with the excellent key available here? :
https://books.google.nl/books?id=d9OfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA19
Or with the website on Australian Cerambycidae:
http://www.ento.csiro.au/biology/cerambycidae/cerambycidae.html
Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago

The Eburophora octoguttata

Eburophora octoguttata White, 1855 is a medium sized Longhorn Beetle (Cerambycidae) endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has been reared from various species of Acacia (A. decurrens, A. irrorata and A. melanoxylon).

Info 2 0

Similar species: Beetles

Species identified by Pudding4brains