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Family Clambidae - Minute Beetles

Representative Images

Minute Beetle - Clambus simsoni Clambus howdeni - male unknown beetle - Clambus unknown beetle - Clambus Clambus simsoni - male submillimeter legless ball - Clambus Tiny orange beetle Minute Beetle - Clambus

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)
Superfamily Scirtoidea
Family Clambidae (Minute Beetles)

Explanation of Names

Clambidae Fischer von Waldheim 1821

Numbers

13 spp. in 3 genera in our area; 170 spp. in 6 genera total(1)

Size

0.7-2.0 mm(2)

Identification

minute, oval, convex, most capable of rolling into a ball, with head strongly deflexed. Divided eyes, large metacoxal plate. Most with dense decumbent setae. Tarsi 4-4-4.(2)
Key to northeastern fauna in Majka and Langor (2009)(3)

Habitat

decaying plant material

Works Cited

1.New country record for Clambus formosanus japonicus Endrödy-Younga (Coleoptera: Clambidae) from the USA, with an updated key...
Hinson K.R., Chandler D.S., Keller O. 2020. Col. Bull. 74: 181-187.
2.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.
3.Clambidae (Coleoptera) of Atlantic Canada
Majka, C.G. and D.W. Langor. 2009. Journal of the Acadian Entomological Society 5: 32-40.