First Report of Nathrius brevipennis (Mulsant) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae) in Australia, with Notes on Diagnostic Characters, Biology and Habits, Distribution, and Hosts

Abstract

We report the first biosecurity surveillance detections of the adventive cerambycid beetle Nathrius brevipennis (Mulsant) by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The detections in panel traps near the port of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia are a result of ongoing pest monitoring by the department's National Border Surveillance program. Nathrius brevipennis adults were detected at three separate trap sites over three successive summers (2019-2022), which suggests that a localized population is established. Apparently native to the western Mediterranean, N. brevipennis has been introduced to other countries via the trade of manufactured wicker work and basketry articles and is now almost cosmopolitan. The species is highly polyphagous, recorded from at least 42 genera across 22 plant families. There are earlier records of N. brevipennis from the 1920s in Melbourne and Adelaide. These were misidentified as Molorchus sp., and the source of these detections is unclear. Diagnostic characters and photographs of both sexes of N. brevipennis are presented together with an extensive review of host associations and DNA barcode data based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene.