Tag Archives: Orthostolus sordidus (Sharp)

Apetasimus sordidus (Sharp)

Dirty Sap Beetle (Apetasimus sordidus)

The Dirty Sap Beetle was described in 1881; it was restricted to the slopes of the Mauna Loa on the island of Hawai’i, Hawaiian Islands.

The species reaches a length of about 0,46 to 0,55 cm; it was dark brown to black, with the elytra having brick red markings. [1]

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Like all members of its group, this species lived under the bark of decaying koa trees (Acacia koa A. Gray), a habitat that now has been overtaken by introduced terrestrial isopods, leading to the extinction of this, and many other endemic invertebrate species. [1]

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References:

[1] Curtis Ewing: Revision of the endemic Hawaiian sap beetle genus Apetasimus Sharp 1908 (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). Zootaxa 1385: 1-30. 2006

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edited: 02.06.2021