Cryptophagus tuberculosus Maklin 1853

Cryptophagus tuberculosus Mäklin, 1853

NEWFOUNDLAND: Cow Head, August 13, 1949, E. Palmen (2 females, MZHF); Portugal Cove: Indian Meal Line, August 18, 1986, September 15, 1986 (2, MUN); Portugal Cove: Indian Meal Line, May 16, 1979 (1, AAFC); St. Barbe, July 26, 1949, E. Palmen (1 male, 2 females, MZHF); St. John’s, September 15, 1995, October 11, 1996, Biology 4150 (3, MUN); Upper Ferry, August 18, 1981, D. Langor (1, MUN). NOVA SCOTIA: Annapolis Co.: Annapolis Royal, July 30, 1941, H.T. Stultz, dried corn (1, ACNS); Lunenburg Co.: New Ross, August 1, 1990, M. Russell, in plastic wrapping on hay ladder (1, NSMC); Colchester Co.: Five Islands, June 16, 1995, C. Corkum, young coniferous forest, FIT (1 male, NSMC).

Cryptophagus tuberculosus is newly recorded on insular Newfoundland, in Nova Scotia, and in Atlantic Canada (Fig. 3). This Holarctic species has previously record- ed in North America from Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming in western North America (Woodroffe and Coombs 1961), and in Maine and New Hampshire in eastern North America (Chandler 2001). In the Palaearctic region it is found in Scandinavia and northern Russia, east to the Russian Far East, Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia (Johnson et al. 2007). Woodroffe and Coombs (1961) reported it from coniferous trees, nests, and stored produce (especially dried fruit). In Nova Scotia it has been found on dried corn and in a coniferous forest. This is a highly variable, polytypic species which can be difficult to separate from Cryptophagus subfumatus Kraatz. The shape of the parameres, however, are quite distinctive (Woodroffe and Coombs 1961).

The occurrence of C. tuberculosus in eastern North America is noteworthy. Woodroffe and Coombs (1961) drew attention to the wide Holarctic distribution of this species and its apparent absence in eastern North America. They also noted three “forms” of this species in western North America and suggested that the species was rather easily isolated by geographical or ecological barriers. They further proposed that the species may have dispersed to North America at a time when a land bridge existed across the Bering Strait. Therefore, the occurrence of C. tuberculosus in eastern North America may suggest that this species has a typical Holarctic distribution.