Family Pyrochroidae - Fire-Colored Beetles

Greek pyros 'fire' + chroma 'color' (reference to the bright color of some species; common name is a verbatim translation)

50 described spp. in 7 genera in our area(1) (several undescribed spp. in Pedilus)

adults 4-20 mm; larvae to 25 mm

Larvae of Pyrochroinae under moist bark of dead trees, adults often at lights; Pedilus larvae in soil or decaying plant material, adults may be common of shrubs/flowers; Cononotus in xeric habitats under rocks and dry dead vegetaion(1)

Larvae of Pyrochroinae apparently fungivorous rather than predaceous or xylophagous, although may become cannibalistic at high population densities(1)

Adults of many genera, notably Pedilus, are attracted to cantharidin(1) (males seek out blister beetles, climb onto them and lick off the cantharidin the blister beetles exude and use the blistering agent to impress a female of their own species who then mates with them, whereupon most of the cantharidin is transfered to the female in the form of a sperm packet. The eggs the female subsequently lays are coated with cantharidin to protect them from being eaten before they hatch. -Jim McClarin, 26.iii.2006)

larvae of Cucujidae have shorter terminal appendages and their 8th abdominal segment is not longer than wide

Young D.K. (1975) A revision of the family Pyrochroidae (Coleoptera: Heteromera) for North America based on the larvae, pupae, and adults. American Entomological Institute 11: 1-39.