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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Elateriformia » Byrrhoidea » Water Penny Beetles (Psephenidae)

Family Psephenidae - Water Penny Beetles

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

black and orange beetle - Ectopria nervosa - female

Ectopria nervosa (Melsheimer) - Ectopria nervosa

Beetle from Charles City County - Ectopria nervosa

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)

Superfamily Byrrhoidea

Family Psephenidae (Water Penny Beetles)

Explanation of Names

Psephenidae Lacordaire 1854

see Psephenus

Water penny: larvae are flat, often circular

Numbers

16 spp. in 6 genera in our area(1), ~300 spp. in 15 genera total(2)

Size

3-7 mm(1)

Identification

Adults flattened, usually dark:

Larvae aquatic, distinctive, cling to rocks and found more often than adults:

Range

worldwide, most diverse in E. Asia; Eubrianacinae (represented in our area by Eubrianax) are circumpacific, Psepheninae (represented in our area by Psephenus) are primarily a New World group, and Eubriinae (the rest of our genera) are globally distributed(1)

Habitat

Larvae on the underside of rocks of submerged wood in fast-flowing water. Adults on rocks and vegetation along streams.

Season

Adults only in summer(1)

Food

Larvae graze on algae; some are detritivorous(1); adults are short-lived

Life Cycle

semivoltine; larvae overwinter, pupate under riparian substrates or in water(1)

Print References

(3)

Internet References

Family overview(4)

Family page (Hammond 2009)

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.	Order Coleoptera Linnaeus, 1758. In: Zhang Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification... Ślipiński S.A., Leschen R.A.B., Lawrence J.F. 2011. Zootaxa 3148: 203–208.

3.	Water Beetles of South Carolina Janet Ciegler. 2003. Clemson University.

4.	Lawrence J.F., et al. (2000-2005) Elateriformia (Coleoptera): descriptions, illustrations, identification...

Contributed by tom murray on 2 November, 2005 - 8:29pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Robin McLeod, Phillip Harpootlian, Chuck Entz, Tim Moyer, v belov
Last updated 12 January, 2015 - 9:53pm

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