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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Staphyliniformia » Hydrophiloidea » Water Scavenger Beetles (Hydrophilidae) » Sphaeridiinae » Megasternini » Cercyon » Subgenus Cercyon (Cercyon Subgenus Cercyon) » Cercyon praetextatus

Species Cercyon praetextatus

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Remarks · Works Cited

Compost hydrophilid - Cercyon praetextatus

Water Scavenger Beetle - Cercyon praetextatus

Hydrolphilidae, dorsal - Cercyon praetextatus

Olibrus or Stilbus or neither - Cercyon praetextatus

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Staphyliniformia)

Superfamily Hydrophiloidea

Family Hydrophilidae (Water Scavenger Beetles)

Subfamily Sphaeridiinae

Tribe Megasternini

Genus Cercyon

No Taxon (Subgenus Cercyon)

Species praetextatus (Cercyon praetextatus)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Cercyon praetextatus (Say)

Orig. Comb: Sphaeridium praetextatum Say, 1825

Syn: Cercyon testaceum Blatchley, 1923

Size

2.4 to 3.5 mm (1)

Identification

Shining black Cercyon with distinctly delimited pale apex of the elytra.

Key Characters: (1)

> 2 mm

Mesosternum narrow, finely punctured.

Metasternum without femoral lines.

Prosternum with simple longitudinal carina.

Pronotum and elytra shining, no microsculpture.

Elytra black with distinctly delimited pale apex.

Stria impressed to apex of elytra.

Vertex of head with pair of small reddish spots, often very obscure and difficult to see.

Range

e. NA, plus a few w. records (CA, UT, WY) south to Guatemala / Jamaica - Map (1)(2)(3)

Habitat

Often in wet/damp habitats in various debris, leaf-litter, and decomposing plant matter. Also found on fungi, carrion and dung. (1)

Adults are attracted to lights and malt traps. (1)

Remarks

A very common species. (1)

An adult from Florida was found to carry mite deutonymphs (Parasitus sp.) under its elytra. (1)

Works Cited

1.	Revision of the subfamily Sphaeridiinae of America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) Smetana A. 1978. Mem. Ent. Soc. Canada 105: 1–292.

2.	Checklist of beetles (Coleoptera) of Canada and Alaska. Second edition Bousquet Y., Bouchard P., Davies A.E., Sikes D.S. 2013. ZooKeys 360: 1–402.

3.	Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

Contributed by Boris Büche on 30 March, 2007 - 9:19am
Additional contributions by Bbarnd, Mike Quinn
Last updated 9 October, 2023 - 6:22pm

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