Phyllobaenus maritimus Wolcott, 1910

Chapman, Eric G., Leavengood, John M. & Dupuis, Julian R., 2025, The Cleridae and Thanerocleridae of eastern North America, with illustrated keys, updated distributions, and special emphasis on the Kentucky fauna, Zootaxa 5639 (1), pp. 1-88 : 55

Phyllobaenus maritimus Wolcott, 1910 ; Cleridae : Clerinae : Hydnocerini

Illustrations: Plate 4-D. Phyllobaenus key, couplet 13-A, B

Distribution: GA to NB to AB to LA.

- Recorded from: AL, CT, GA, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, SC, VA, VT, WI, Alberta, New Brunswick, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec ( Wolcott 1910 a, 1928, 1947; Wickham & Wolcott 1912; Knull 1951; Papp 1960; Eikenbary & Fox 1968; Barr 1975; Gosling 1980; Majka 2006; Dorshorst & Young 2008; Steury & Leavengood 2018).

- New Provincial Records: ALBERTA: Medicine Hat , 23-VII-1927, J. N. Knull ( FMNH, 3) .

- New State Records: CONNECTICUT: Litchfield County: Cornwall , 22-VI-1922, Chamberlain ( JPHC, 1). GEORGIA: Clarke County : Athens, 17-IV-1972, R . Turnbow ( JEWC, 1) .

Natural History: The two specimens of the type series were collected on “beach grass” in June and, as such, was suggested to be a “seashore species” by Blanchard ( Wolcott 1910a). The following was published for P. lecontei , now a junior synonym of P. maritimus (see comment below): Larvae have been found with unemerged Nantucket pine tip moth ( Lepidoptera : Tortricidae : Rhyacionia frustrana ) pupae and larvae in pine tips and adults were predaceous on immature and adult stages of the moth ( Eikenbary & Fox 1968). In the semi-arid regions of the west this is the most common Phyllobaenus and can be beaten from various shrubs ( Wickham & Wolcott 1912). Chapin (1917b) reported collecting it from gray birch ( Betula populifolia ) and great mullien ( Verbascum thapsus ) but speculated that the specimens may have come from a nearby stand of pignut hickory ( Carya glabra ). Gosling (1980) recorded it on the flowers of wild carrot ( Daucus carota ). Dorshorst & Young (2008) reported collections from the foliage of big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardi ) and oak ( Quercus ) and by sweeping leadplant ( Amorpha canescens ) in Wisconsin; they also collected it with flight intercept and Malaise traps.

Comments: Barr (2018) designated P. lecontei (Wolcott) and P. puritanus (Wolcott) as junior synonyms of P. maritimus . Literature records from Alaska and Arizona ( Wolcott 1947; Papp 1960) are presumed misidentifications. However, some eastern species (e.g., P. humeralis ) move far westward across the northern clines of Canada.