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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Staphyliniformia » Staphylinoidea » Featherwing[ed] Beetles (Ptiliidae) » Ptiliinae » Nanosellini » Nanosella
Photo#585509
Tiny beetles on polypore - Nanosella
Copyright © 2011 Charley Eiseman

Tiny beetles on polypore - Nanosella
Pelham, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA
October 8, 2011
Size: 0.35 mm
I didn't realize beetles could be quite this tiny--I thought they were springtails before I saw them through my lens. There were a dozen or so on the underside of a fleshy, white polypore, evidently feeding on the spores as they entered one pore after another. I guess they must be ptiliids, based on this info from the guide page: "the smallest known beetles, most species being under 1 mm, and the smallest known being 0.35 mm".

Edit: The fungus is Tyromyces cf. chioneus. More photos here.
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Contributed by Charley Eiseman on 8 October, 2011 - 11:16pm
Last updated 13 October, 2011 - 5:05pm

Moved
Moved from Featherwing[ed] Beetles.
ID by Gene Hall, here.
… Charley Eiseman, 13 October, 2011 - 5:05pm login or register to post comments

Ptilidae's correct
nice find!
… Tim Loh, 8 October, 2011 - 11:54pm login or register to post comments

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