Numbers
4 species in North America (
nearctica.com)
1 species in Canada (Checklist of Beetles of Canada and Alaska
PDF doc)
Identification
Very similar to rove beetles in shape, but have the typical antennal ball termini of Nitidulidae. Body black, slender; wings short, not covering abdomen; abdomen elongate, tapering to blunt-tipped point; legs and antennae (except for club) brownish-yellow.
Roger Bland's How to Know the Insects (1978) states that C. stenoides has wide elytra with fine grooves and coarse punctures, but no other descriptive text could be found on how to visually separate the 4 North American species.
Range
C. fuscipennis: restricted to Florida (?)
C. mexicanus: New Mexico to California, and introduced to Hawaii
C. obscurus: Minnesota and Manitoba to New Brunswick, south at least to North Carolina [but absent from Florida], west at least to Mississippi and Colorado
C. stenoides: Oklahoma to Florida, north to North Carolina
Habitat
Often found in tubular flowers such as morning glory and bindweed (Convolvulaceae). Various species also found on corn, cotton, and Dianthus (Caryophyllaceae; Pink Family)
Food
adults feed on pollen without damaging the flower; in the southern United States, C. stenoides feeds on corn, and C. obscurus feeds inside cotton blossoms
Print References
Roger N. Williams, Josef Jelinek, Dale H. Habeck. [b] Annotated Bibliography of the Genus Conotelus Erichson (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). June 1988. Entomological Society of America. ISBN: 9998953510
Internet References
pinned adult image of
Conotelus species (Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, California)
pinned adult images of
C. mexicanus (U. of Arizona)
pinned adult image of
C. mexicanus plus description (Juliana Yalemar, Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture)
live adult image of
C. obscurus (Marc-Andre Lachance, U. of Western Ontario)
food plants; PDF doc and other info (Marc-Andre Lachance
et al, U. of Western Ontario)
food plants and distribution (insectariumvirtual.com, Spain)
presence in Florida; list of
C. fuscipennis, stenoides, plus distribution (Michael Thomas, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)
presence in Oklahoma; list of
C. stenoides (Oklahoma State U.)
presence in California; list - PDF doc of
C. mexicanus (Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, California)
distribution in Canada; list - PDF doc of
C. obscurus (Checklist of Beetles of Canada and Alaska; Nitudulidae)
presence in Minnesota; list of
C. obscurus (Insects of Cedar Creek, Minnesota)
presence in North Carolina; list of
C. obscurus, stenoides (North Carolina State U.)
presence in Colorado; list of
C. obscurus (U. of Colorado)
presence in Mississippi; citation of
C. obscurus on cotton flowers (Clarence Collison, Mississippi State U.)
Contributed by
Jim McClarin on 23 October, 2005 - 11:13am
Additional contributions by
Robin McLeodLast updated 19 November, 2005 - 3:18pm
