Paraphotistus nigricornis (Panzer) (Elateridae) new to Ireland

摘要

On a visit to Coole Park, a wooded turlough area in south-east Galway, Ireland, on 22 May 2010, we encountered large numbers of a dark click beetle with pale legs and conspicuous golden pubescence. One of us (PH) recognised this immediately as Paraphotistus nigricornis (Panzer), for which there are no previous Irish records (Anderson et al., 1997). Adults were present on low foliage of alder buckthorn and herbs on the fringe of broadleaf woodland by the River Coole. The river forms a large pondage area here that is subject to wide fluctuations in water level from karstic swallowholes on the river's floodplain. At the time of our visit water was low and had retreated some distance from the woodland edge. An average sweep of the herbage produced four or five beetles so the population was very large, numbering tens of thousands or more.