An Interesting Attractant for Priacma serrata (Lee), (Cupesidae: Coleoptera)

Abstract

On the warm morning of May 27, 1956 at the Trinity Valley field station near Lumby, B.C., some laundry hanging out to dry attracted large numbers of a strange Cerambycid-like beetle. Closer examination showed this insect to be Priacma serrata (Lec.) of the family Cupesidae (Fig. 1), an interesting and infrequently collected species. The family Cupesidae seems to have no economic importance, having only two genera and five species in North America that have been described (Blatchley, 1910). The larvae are reported to live in rotten wood; dissection of some adults collected at this time produced an entirely empty and deflated gut. The females and larvae of the closely related Micromalthus debilis Lec. are found in rotting wood in North America and were reported from decaying mine timbers far under ground in Johannesburg.