Cathartus quadricollis

(Guérin-Méneville, 1844)

square-necked warrior beetle

A small predatory flat bark beetle in the Silvanidae with a broad global distribution spanning the Americas, Africa, and the Galápagos Islands. In Hawaii, it serves as an important natural enemy of agricultural scolytine pests including the , tropical nut borer, and black twig borer. Laboratory studies confirm it can complete development on various stored grains and seeds. The shows potential for programs due to its limited from release sites and established rates on pest .

Cathartus quadricollis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844) by URSchmidt. Used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

Pronunciation

How to pronounce Cathartus quadricollis: /kəˈθɑːrtəs kwɑːdrɪˈkɒlɪs/

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Habitat

Agricultural landscapes including coffee farms, macadamia nut farms, and mixed agroecosystems; also found in stored grain/seed environments and at least seven different plant common to agricultural areas. In Hawaii specifically associated with coffee and macadamia production systems.

Distribution

Galápagos Islands, Africa, Caribbean, Middle America, North America (including Hawaii); study records from Nigeria

Diet

of scolytine and stages; confirmed on (), Hypothenemus obscurus (tropical nut borer), and Xylosandrus compactus (black twig borer). Laboratory rearing successful on cut maize, sorghum, wheat, cowpea, and melon.

Life Cycle

incubation 3–7 days with 95.5% hatchability; five larval instars based on -capsule width measurements with growth ratio 1.05–1.20; total developmental period 18.80–30.70 days depending on food medium. Various life stages found in field indicating complete development in agricultural landscape .

Behavior

Limited movement from release sites—individuals recaptured near release points at 1, 2, and 7 weeks after augmentative releases. rate approximately 40% on in artificial coffee berry assays. Gregarious feeding not reported; primarily predatory rather than phytophagous in field settings.

Ecological Role

Natural enemy and agent of significant agricultural scolytine pests in Hawaii; contributes to pest suppression in coffee and macadamia nut agroecosystems through on borer .

Human Relevance

Evaluated for of and other scolytine pests in Hawaiian agriculture; laboratory rearing methods established for mass release programs.

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