Myrmecopora vaga

NOVA SCOTIA: Halifax Co.: Point Pleasant Park, 23.VI.2002, C.G. Majka, small beach, in flotsam, (1 female, CGMC).

Myrmecopora vaga (Fig. 4) is newly recorded in Canada (Fig. 13). The specimen was collected on a small sandy beach along the Northwest Arm in Point Pleasant Park. Several individuals were observed in the vicinity of beach-drift detritus accumulated at the top of the strand line. They were, however, quick to take flight and agile on the wing, and only one specimen was captured. Other characteristic co-inhabiting coastline species of beetles collected together with M. vaga at this site were Cercyon litoralis, Dermestes undulatus Brahm, 1790 [Dermestidae], and Blapstinus metallicus.

Myrmecopora vaga was described by LeConte (1866) from the “Lake Superior” region of the United States where it was found in the riparian areas of lakes and streams (Newton et al. 2000). The present record is the first subsequent record, and the first one from eastern North America. While the species was found in riparian areas in the interior of the continent, it was discovered on the coastline in Nova Scotia. This may be a typical habitat for this little-known species given that many Western Palaearctic species of Myrmecopora are known to inhabit coastline, beach-drift, and shingle-beach environments where they are typically found beneath seaweed and other debris accumulated on the strand line (Assing 1997a, 1997b). These include M. fugax (Erichson, 1839), M. laesa (Erichson, 1839), M. uvida (Erichson, 1840), M. boehmi Bernhauer, 1910, M. oweni Assing, 1997, M. sulcata (Kiesenwetter, 1850), M. simillima (Wollaston, 1864), M. maritima (Wollaston, 1864), M. minima Bernhauer, 1900, M. anatolica (Fagel, 1969), M. bernahueri Koch, 1936, and M. brevipes Butler, 1909 (all the species in the subgenera Iliusa, Paraxenusa, and Xenusa); and in the eastern portion of the Palaearctic region, M. rufescens (Sharp, 1874), M. algarum (Sharp, 1874), M. reticulata (Assing, 1997), and M. chinensis Cameron, 1944 (all the species in the subgenus Lamproxenusa). Consequently this species should be sought more extensively in both riparian and seacoast situations in North America in order to better determine its distribution on the continent.

Oxytelinae