Review of the biology and host plants of the Australian jewel beetle Agrilus australasiae Laporte & Gory (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) By Trevor J. Hawkeswood Hawkeswood, T.J. (1991): Review of the biology and host plants of the Australian jewel beetle Agrilus australasiae Laporte & Gory (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). — Spi-xianal5/l: 81-87. The biology and host plants of the Australian jewel beetle, Agrilus australasiae La-porte & Gory (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Agrilinae) are reviewed both from the litera-ture and previously unpublished observations. The species is often common in a va-riety of habitats in eastern Australia — e. g. low open woodlands and heathlands to dry sclerophyll forests. The known larval host plants are Acacia pycnantha Benth. and A. sophorae (Labill.) R. Br. (Mimosaceae) while the known adult food plants are Acacia dealbata Link, A. decurrens (Wendl.) Willd., A. parramattensis Tindale and A. sophorae (Labill.) R. Br. (Mimosaceae). Adults appear to be mainly foliage feeders. Various ecological characteristics of the beetle, such as the ability to occupy highly seasonal regions, general spatial patchiness of resident populations within a region, dispersal ability of adults, habitat selection, colonizing ability, abundance of food plants, predation, escape mechanisms, cryptic coloration and sex ratio of adult beetles in random collections, are all reviewed and discussed. Trevor J. Hawkeswood, 49 Venner Road, Annerley, 4103, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Introduction The Grey-striped Agrilus, Agrilus australasiae Laporte & Gory (Fig. 1) (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Agrilinae) is a small bronze-copper coloured beetle with white/cream stripes and other marks on the lateral margins of the body and appears restricted to eastern Australia. Although it is perhaps the most common member of the genus in Australia, little has been recorded on its biology and behaviour. Re-cent field observations and collections by the present author have prompted a review on the species biology, behaviour and host plants. Review of previously published biological data Froggatt (1902: 702; 1923: 106) was the first to record biological data on the species; he noted that adults of A. australasiae were plentiful upon the foliage of Acacia decurrens (Wendl.) Willd. (Mimosa-ceae) but did not indicate whether or not the beetle bred in the wattle. Froggatt (1902, 1923) further noted that adults could be collected from the wattle foliage in the Mittagong district, New South Wa-81
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