Sericoderus - Sericoderus lateralis

Moved

… Brad Barnd, 29 November, 2021 - 9:32pm

Sericoderus lateralis (Gyllenhal), female

ID'd from specimen, now a photo-voucher. Size field updated. Thanks John.

So in the past with these, I've just said "Sericoderus sp." because truthfully as far as I know our species have not been reexamined in a modern revision. We have 5 species per American Beetles, the cosmo S. lateralis and 4 additional LeConte/Casey species. The Casey species are from California so we can generally exclude them. That leaves the two LeConte species (obscurus and subtilis) to be considered.

So as I was waffling about what to say about this one, I checked Bowestead's (1999) revision of Palaearctic Corylophidae. It turns out Sericoderus lateralis is a parthenogenic species (the other Palaearctic species is not), and he illustrates the spermatheca. I went searching and finally found the spermatheca, which matches Bowestead's figure.

… Brad Barnd, 29 November, 2021 - 9:32pm

That's great!

must be a tiny spermatheca, thanks for spending so much time with my critters.

… John Rosenfeld, 29 November, 2021 - 10:32pm

Very very small

Unfortunately I don't have the resources to do proper slide mounts, which would usually be done with such a small beetle. But fortunately, I was able to see enough under the stereomicroscope.

… Brad Barnd, 29 November, 2021 - 11:28pm