Tag Archives: Homoeodera elateroides

Homoeodera elateroides Wollaston

Click Beetle-like Fungus Beetle (Homoeodera elateroides)

This species, endemic to the island of Saint Helena, was described in 1877.

The author of the species gives some information about it.:

The H. elateroides is confined to the loftier portions of the central ridge, and is decidedly scarce – though, by repeated visits to its proper habitat, I secured a tolerable supply of examples. They were nearly all of them taken about Diana’s Peak and Actaeon, though I met with a few towards the summit of High Peak.” [1]

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As we see, this species was restricted to the higher mountainous areas of the island, it was already rare in 1965/66 and was not found during the most recent field searches in 2015/06. 

The Click Beetle-like Fungus Beetle may be extinct, despite the fact that the plants that it is/was thought to be associated with, the Saint Helena Tree Fern (Dicksonia arborescens L’Hér.) and the Black-scaled Fern (Diplazium filamentosum (Roxb.) Cronk), appear to be still quite common. [2]

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References:

[1] T. Vernon Wollaston: Coleoptera Sanctae-Helenae. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row 1877 
[2] Howard Mendel; Philip Ashmole; Myrtle Ashmole: Invertebrates of the Central Peaks and Peak Dale, St. Helena. Report for the St Helena National Trust, Jamestown 2008

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edited: 02.12.2018