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Genus Elaphrus
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Adephaga (Ground and Water Beetles)
Family Carabidae (Ground Beetles)
Subfamily Elaphrinae
Tribe Elaphrini
Genus Elaphrus
Other Common Names Marsh Ground Beetles, Bog Ground Beetles Pronunciation eh-LAFF-rus Explanation of Names From the Greek elaphro, meaning light in weight. (1)Numbers Nearctica.com lists 19 species. Identification Resemble Cicindela tiger beetles, but smaller, usually less brightly colored. Eyes large, and head wider than pronotum. Elytra have distinctive shallow pits, called foveae (2). These beetles are quite distinctive as a genus, but are very hard to identify at the species level.
Sexing specimens: "Adult males, except those of E. punctatus which lacks any secondary sexual characteristics, are recognized by enlarged basal tarsomeres of forelegs with white hair-like structures ventrally, termed spongy pubescence. In most species, males have a small tooth-like projection at the base of inner spur of the mid-tibia." More information in Goulet, 233. Range Much of North America, with a majority of species restricted to Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States. Habitat Shores, mud flats, marshes, bogs. See examples:
Season Spring to early summer. April-May (Minnesota). March-June (E. ruscarius, North Carolina). Food Predatory on other insects, presumably. Remarks Goulet postulates that the ancestor species arose in tropical Asia. Eventually species became extinct except for the immediate ancestor species of today's Elaphrini, which survived in Alaska and northern Siberia. From there the Elphrini radiated and evolved into current species. Today the Elaphrini are more common in Alaska, Canada, and the northern U.S. than in the southern states. (Goulet, 221.)
For those living in the eastern United States south of Pennsylvania, the most widespread species is Elaphrus ruscarius, which ranges widely all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. (Goulet, 371.) See Also Tiger Beetles, esp. genus CicindelaPrint References Dillon p. 67, plate VII--E. cicatricosus and E. ruscarius (2)
Ciegler, pp. 32-33, fig. 44, lists E. ruscarius from South Carolina, with probably occurrence of E. californicus, which is found in North Carolina, Florida (3).
Salsbury, p. 165--photo E. ruscarius (4)
Arnett et al., pp. 75-77, fig. 199--E. ruscarius (5)
Sikes, pp. 50-51 lists 5 species from Rhode Island (7).
(9) GOULET, H. 1983: The genera of Holarctic Elaphrini and species of Elaphrus Fabricius (Coleoptera:Carabidae): classification, phylogeny and zoogeography. Quaestiones Entomologicae, 19: 219-481 Internet References North Carolina State Univ. Entomology lists two species from that state: cicatricosus (1 pinned), ruscarius (73 pinned)
Works Cited | 4. | Insects in Kansas
By Glenn A. Salsbury and Stephan C. White | |
| 5. | How to Know the Beetles
By Ross H. Arnett, N. M. Downie, H. E. Jaques | |
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