Other Common Names
Pintail Beetles (Internet searches)
Numbers
6 genera with 204 species in N. America.
Size
1.5-15 mm. usually 3-8 mm.
Identification
Body humpbacked, more or less wedge-shaped; broadest at front; head is bent forward, attached ventrally; abdomen pointy, extending beyond elytra. Hind legs enlarged. They kick and tumble about when disturbed. Black or gray, some brown; hairy, sometimes light patches of hair form pattern. Antennae short to moderate, threadlike, sawtoothed or clubbed. Tarsal claws often bilobed or comblike.
Species identification in this family is often dependant on knowing the number of "ridges" on the hind tibia and tarsi -- try to photograph these ridges if you can. You can see the ridges in this photo:
Habitat
Common on flowers and foliage; sometimes on dead trees and logs. Larvae occur in dead or dying hardwoods, in pith of weeds or in bracket fungi.
Food
Larvae are believed to eat plant material in decaying wood, etc. Some are leaf and stem miners. Some are predaceous. Adults visit flowers.
Print References
The Century Dictionary--entry for
Mordella (1)
American Beetles, Vol. 2, Chapter 101
(2)
Instroduction to the Study of Insects (3)
Dillon p. 287, has key to some eastern genera, illustrates several on plate XXIX
(4)
Liljeblad,
Monograph of the Family Mordellidae (Coleoptera) of North America, North of Mexico(5)Internet References
INBIO (Costa Rica), concise description
deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/56307/1/MP062.pdf University of Michigan Monograph with taxonomic information.
A Synopsis of the Mordellidae of the US, by John B. Smith, Trans. of Am Ent Soc., vol 10, #1, 1882
