Cyllodes biplagiatus LeConte 1866

Cyllodes biplagiatus LeConte 1866 (Fig. 1, 11) Cyllodes biplagiatus LeConte 1866: 377; Henshaw 1885: 59; Leng 1920: 196; Parsons 1943: 248; Arnett 1963: 763; McNamara 1991: 217; Habeck 2002: 314; Sikes 2004: 170; Price & Young 2006: 77. Distribution. Parsons (1943) states “This species occurs (May–July) from New Hampshire (Three Mile Island) to New Jersey (Orange Mt., Monmouth Jct.), west through New York (Buffalo), Michigan (Detroit, Marquette), Wisconsin (Bayfield), Minnesota (Fillmore Co.), and Manitoba (Aweme, Winnipeg, Victoria Beach).” Unfortunately this listing was only a distribution range that did not cite vouchers for any of the localities. The species is notably lacking from Blatchley’s (1910) listing of the beetles of Indiana, and it is also absent from a current treatment of the fauna of Nova Scotia (Majka & Cline 2006) and Maine (Majka et al. 2011), but was found in New Brunswick (Majka et al. 2008). The host fungus is present in Nova Scotia (Wehmeyer 1950); however the beetle has not been collected there (Majka pers. comm.). Sikes (2004) did not find it in Rhode Island during his survey from 1995–2000, but noted it being reported as rare in the early 20th century (Davis 1904). Price and Young (2006) provide an up to date county listing for the species in Wisconsin. We compiled data from many North American museums and private collections to present more detailed distributional records and document the depositories of those specimens. The data (Appendix 1) presented herein are not verbatim label data, but have been altered into a standardized form and only represent locality and date of capture (if available). The current distribution of C. biplagiatus is depicted in Figure 11. Biology. This species is known to be associated with oyster mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus Fries, with adult feeding occurring on the sporocarp (Downie & Arnett 1996; Cline & Leschen 2005; Price & Young 2006; Majka et al. 2008). Larvae of this species were described (Wickham 1894); however, species-level details are lacking and the line drawings are insufficient to determine any valid characters. The majority of collection records (Appendix 1) are from the early to middle 1900s. This fact may be indicative of a decline in C. biplagiatus in natural ecosystems or may conversely represent a reduction in the number of collections being made due to the loss of interest in natural history by recent generations. As mentioned above, Sikes (2004) indicated the species was present at the turn of the last century, albeit rarely, but was not collected during his recent intensive survey of the beetles of Rhode Island. This evidence may support an actual decline in this species in natural ecosystems and not a loss of interest in natural history collections. As noted by Cline and Leschen (2005) Pleurotus fungi are among some of the longest-lived fungi with sporocarps persisting for months if conditions are favorable. Pleurotus fungi also provide shelter or subsistence to at least 136 species of beetles in North America (Cline & Leschen 2005). Thus, even though the sporocarp may be long-lived, if fewer are present in nature, some species (e.g. Cyllodes biplagiatus) may be competitively excluded from feeding on the fungus and thus suffer correspondingly in reproductive output.

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