Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Family Trogossitidae

Temnoscheila aerea LeConte - Temnoscheila aerea Temnoscheila preying on weevil - Temnoscheila Green click beetle - Temnoscheila Beetle - Temnoscheila aerea Blue Bug with Pincers - Temnoscheila Tenebroides laticollis? - Tenebroides laticollis Metalic Green Beetle? - Temnoscheila Airora cylindrica - Tenebroides corticalis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Cleroidea
Family Trogossitidae
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
split (again!) per (1); the genera of our fauna formerly treated under Peltinae have been reassigned as follows:
former Lophocaterini (Eronyxa · Grynocharis · Lophocateres · Lycoptis) →to Lophocateridae; Peltis →to Peltidae; Thymalus →to Thymalidae
Explanation of Names
Trogossitidae Latreille 1802
Numbers
47 spp. in 7 genera of 2 subfamilies in our area, ~330 spp. in 28 genera of 4 subfamilies total(2)(1)
Genera of our fauna:
Size
5-22 mm (exotic spp. up to 50 mm)(3)
Identification
keys in(4)
mostly cylindrical or slightly flattened subcortical beetles
Range
worldwide and throughout NA(2); nearly half of the described spp. are in S. America(5)
Habitat
Forests; under bark or on bracket fungi; a few spp. in stored products
Food
Many are predatory on other beetles and their larvae
Their antennae detect odors that guide them to the best hunting grounds.(6)
See Also
some lookalikes from other superfamilies:
Works Cited
1.Comprehensive phylogeny of the Cleroidea (Coleoptera: Cucujiformia)
Gimmel M.L., Bocakova M., Gunter N.L., Leschen R.A.B. 2019. Sys. Entomol. 44: 527-558.
2.Synopsis of the described Coleoptera of the world
3.American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
4.A revision of the Trogossitidae of America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Cleroidea)
J.R. Barron. 1971. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada, 75: 1-143.
5.Coleoptera, Beetles; Morphology and Systematics vol. 2
Richard A.B. Leschen, Rolf G. Beutel and John F. Lawrence. 2010. De Gruyter.
6.Hidden Company that Trees Keep: Life from Treetops to Root Tips
James B. Nardi. 2023. Princeton University Press.