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Genus Ripiphorus

Whatsit? - Ripiphorus - male - female Ripiphorid beetle - Ripiphorus - female ripiphorid on baileya flower - Ripiphorus rex - male Wedge-shaped beetle - Ripiphorus diadasiae - male Tiny  (4-5mm) black insect with odd shaped abdomen. - Ripiphorus Chalcidoidea? - Ripiphorus - female Ripiphorid - Ripiphorus niger - female Ripiphorus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Tenebrionoidea
Family Ripiphoridae (Wedge-shaped Beetles)
Subfamily Ripiphorinae
Genus Ripiphorus
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Rhipiphorus (widely used unjustified emendation), Rhipidophorus (unjustified emendation), Dorthesia Say 1823, Myodes Latreille 1818, Myodites Latreille 1819
genus badly needs revision
Explanation of Names
Ripiphorus Bosc 1791
Greek 'fan-bearer' (refers to male antennae)
Numbers
~30 spp. in our area, ~70 total(1)
Identification
Key to CA spp. in (2)
elytra very short (look like large tegula); wings long, exposed
Male antennae biflabellate with the rami of roughly equal size on all antennomeres

Female antennae monoflabellate, often tapering markedly towards apex

Habitat
Females on vegetation/flowers; males around host colonies waiting for emerging females(1)
Food
Larvae are parasites of ground-nesting bees(1); in CA, mainly Nomia and Diadasia(2)
Life Cycle
Females lay eggs on flowers (often on buds). Eggs hatch into active first stadium larvae (triungulins) which hitch a ride on bees to their nests where they feed on the brood: first as internal parasites, and later in their development as external parasites --a habit otherwise almost unknown in Coleoptera.(2) Adults are very short-lived: in many species the males last less than a day; females may be similarly short-lived but tend to emerge over a longer period.
Remarks
Females are more commonly seen than males because they visit flowers to deposit eggs
Print References
(3)(4)
Wheeler A.J. (1997) Notes on mating behavior of Rhipiphorus luteipennis (Coleoptera: Rhipiphoridae) (Full text)
Linsley E.G., MacSwain J.W. (1950). New western species of Rhipiphoridae (Coleoptera). Wasmann J. Biol. 8: 229-239. (Full text)
Pierce W.D. (1920) Studies in the genus Myodites Latreille (Coleoptera, Rhipiphoridae). (Full text)
Works Cited
1.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.
2.The Rhipiphoridae of California (Coleptera)
Linsley E.G., MacSwain J.W. 1951. Bull. Calif. Insect Surv. 1: 79-88.
3.A review of the genus Macrosiagon in Mexico, with notes on Rhipiphorus (Coleoptera, Rhipiphoridae)
Patricia Vaurie. 1955. American Museum of Natural History.
4.Revision of the Rhipiphoridae of North and Central America
Ezekiel Rivnay. 1929. American Entomological Society.