First north American record of an unnamed West Palaearctic Agrilus (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) infesting European beech (Fagus sylvatica) in New York City, USA

Abstract

This paper reports a non-native Agrilus wood-boring jewel beetle reared from a stressed and non-native European beech (Fagus sylvatica) tree growing in New York City, USA. Results of two analyses using 759 DNA barcodes of Agrilus corroborate the morphology-based interpretation that this is the first North American record of an unnamed species from the A. roscidus species-group native to the Western Palaearctic. Taxonomy of the entire species-group requires revision, therefore we postpone formal description of the new species and refer to it as Agrilus sp. 9895. This is the 12th non-native Agrilus established in North America. Prior to our study, members of the A. roscidus species-group were not known to develop in Fagus, therefore we hypothesise whether our record is a host plant shift linked to the human-mediated transatlantic dispersal, or a case of an elusive beetle escaping detection in Fagus in its unknown native range. All 759 herein analysed DNA barcodes of Agrilus (including, when present, specimen images and georeferences) are available online at dx. doi.org/10.5883/DS-VGDS010.