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Genus Nemognatha
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles)
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Tenebrionoidea (Fungus, Bark, Darkling and Blister Beetles)
Family Meloidae (Blister Beetles)
Subfamily Nemognathinae
Tribe Nemognathini
Genus Nemognatha
Explanation of Names Nemognatha Illiger 1807
'thread-like jaw'
Numbers 28 spp. in 4 subgenera in our area (1), ~50 in New World, ~80 worldwide (2); selected local faunas: 4 spp. in Canada (3), 4 in NC (4), 3 in FL (5), 14 in CA (6), 1 in NH (7), 7 in OK (8), 10 in AZ
Identification separation from Zonitis remains problematic; species are very difficult to identify, our spp. are separated by aedeagus structure (2); key to spp. in (9)
Range Worldwide (except Australasia); throughout the New World except for the cold high latitudes (2); in our area, more diverse in the west
Food larval hosts: solitary bees of several families (2); adults: nectar and pollen, especially of Asteraceae (10)
Life Cycle Females lay eggs on flowers, larvae attach to visiting bees and are carried to bee nests (11)
Remarks mouthparts (maxillae) very long (used to suck nectar) (12)
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. |  |
10. | Field Guide to Beetles of California Arthur V. Evans and James N. Hogue. 2006. University of California Press. | |
11. | Peterson Field Guides: Beetles Richard E. White. 1983. Houghton Mifflin Company. | |
12. | The Natural History of Pollination Michael Proctor, Peter Yeo, and Andrew Lack. 1996. | |
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