The Victorian naturalist . underside of eucalypt logsduring winter months, when the lar-vae were totally encrusted with par-ticles of soil agglutinated to the bodysetae. This apparently gives protectionagainst soil-dwelling predators, suchas mites. Mites (unidentified) werefrequently found feeding on the pre-spiracular sclerites when larvae werenot encrusted with soil particles. The mature larvae of E. australasiaewere found to construct pupation cellsin autumn (Mar-April) and to pupate in spring (Sept-Oct), the beetlesemerging in summer (Jan-Feb). Themature larvae of D. dorsalis often digto a
The Victorian naturalist . underside of eucalypt logsduring winter months, when the lar-vae were totally encrusted with par-ticles of soil agglutinated to the bodysetae. This apparently gives protectionagainst soil-dwelling predators, suchas mites. Mites (unidentified) werefrequently found feeding on the pre-spiracular sclerites when larvae werenot encrusted with soil particles. The mature larvae of E. australasiaewere found to construct pupation cellsin autumn (Mar-April) and to pupate in spring (Sept-Oct), the beetlesemerging in summer (Jan-Feb). Themature larvae of D. dorsalis often digto a depth of 10 cm to constructpupation cells and the timing of theirpupation and emergence of the beetlesis similar to that of E. australasiae. The cells of both species are con-structed from faecal material; the cellof E. australasiae consisted of woodyfibre and was oval, about 23 mm longand 15 mm wide; the cell of D. dor-salis yielded little evidence of rootfibre having been consumed. Themethod of cell construction was the. Plate III: Above left, larva ofEupoecila australasiae. Above right, larva ofDiaphonia dorsalis. Fig. 1. Head —dorsal, withoutmandibles. 2. Labrum — dorsal. 3. Left maxilla. 4. Labium — dorsal. 5. Sclerite. 6. Leg. 88 Vict. Nat. Vol. 93 same for both species. The larvae in-duced defecation by stimulating thearea above the anal lip with closedmandibles and then worked the faecesinto position with the mandibles toform the cell wall. The inner surfaceof the cell is then trowelled smoothwith an up and down movement withthe closed mandibles. General appearance of Larvae of thetwo species The structures of ten larvae fromeach collecting site were specimens from each group werepreserved and the remainder werebred out. Plate III The larvae of both species vary insize and of 10 specimens of eachspecies examined, D. dorsalis rangedfrom 70 to 95 mm and E. australasiaefrom 55 to 68 mm on the dorsalaspect. The larvae of D. dorsalis is morerobust and th
Size: 1268px × 1971px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdec, booksubjectnaturalhistory, bookyear1884
