Kingdom Animalia Family Cerambycidae Genus Xylotoles Phylum Arthropoda Order Beetle | Class Insecta Subfamily Lamiinae Scientific name Xylotoles costatus Rank Species | |
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Similar Beetle, Graphoderus bilineatus, Geotrupes stercorarius, Geotrupes, Lemna gibba | ||
Xylotoles costatus, the Pitt Island longhorn beetle, is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It is endemic to New Zealand. Originally thought to be extinct in 1986, it was found again during 1996 on South East Island/Rangatira in the Chatham Islands; the species is now considered a Lazarus taxon.
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Discovery and history of collection
X. costatus was discovered by Henry H. Travers on Pitt Island and was first described by Francis Polkinghorne Pascoe in 1875. The type specimen upon which Pascoe based his description is held at the Natural History Museum, London. The last known collection of this beetle, prior to its rediscovery, was by Thomas Hall who extensively sampled Pitt Island for beetles between 1906 and 1908. He collected three specimens which are now held in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.
Description and identification
Identification of Xylotoles costatus is difficult as it is very similar in appearance to another longhorn beetle found in the Chatham Islands, Xylotoles traversii. Both species are coloured black with a green bronze sheen, however it is likely that X. costatus has more of a bronze sheen than X. traversii. Of the two species X. costatus also has the more pronounced ridges on its wing cases. Generally X. traversii is the smaller beetle of the two, but the size of the two species can overlap. However, if a longhorn beetle specimen is found in the Chatham Islands that is greater than 16 mm in length it is likely to be X. costatus.