A Note on the Longevity and Behaviour of Adult Golden Buprestids, Buprestis aurulenta L. (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Under Artificial Conditions

Abstract

This note is on the longevity and behaviour of Buprestis aurulenta L. adults maintained in the laboratory after emergence from prolonged development in structural wood. An opportunity to obtain such information arose when adults began to emerge inside a large log house near Victoria. The house was built of logs cut on the site in 1946-7. Adults first began to emerge in 1956.The adult life span of forest buprestids appears obscure. Burke (1918) knew of no species that overwintered as adults. Pinned specimens of many species may be noted with dates from spring to fall, but nobody seems to have established whether these records represent continuing emergences, or persistence of earlier emergents. The latter is strongly suggested because some Buprestis species are known to overwinter as adults in pupal cells, while other species overwinter as pupae and become adults in the spring (Burke, 1909). All these adults emerge early in the following season (Burke, 1918).