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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Elateriformia » Dryopoidea » Toe-winged Beetles (Ptilodactylidae)

Family Ptilodactylidae - Toe-winged Beetles

Beetle - Ptilodactyla serricollis - male

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)

Superfamily Dryopoidea

Family Ptilodactylidae (Toe-winged Beetles)

Other Common Names

Toed-winged Beetles

Explanation of Names

Ptilodactylidae Laporte 1836

Numbers

ca. 25 spp. in 6 genera of 4 subfamilies in our area (4 spp. reach Canada), ~500 spp. in 34 genera of 5 subfamilies worldwide (of which ¾ in Ptilodactyla)(1)(2)(3)

Family is paraphyletic as of 2024

Size

2-16 mm(1)

Identification

body brownish or yellowish-brown; head usually hidden from above; antennae long, bearing a slender process on segments 4-10; scutellum heart-shaped, notched anteriorly

Range

mainly tropical; in our area, most spp. are in e. US, with a few scattered in the west and Canada(1)

Habitat

adults on vegetation in moist shady places, often near water; come to lights; larvae in decaying logs, beaver houses, and leaf mold; some (Anchytarsus) are aquatic

Remarks

Summary of some characteristics to differentiate from Alleulinae in comments to this iNaturalist post.

Internet References

Family overview(4)

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.

2.	Order Coleoptera Linnaeus, 1758. In: Zhang Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification... Ślipiński S.A., Leschen R.A.B., Lawrence J.F. 2011. Zootaxa 3148: 203–208.

3.	Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta) Bouchard P, Bousquet Y, Davies A, Alonso-Zarazaga M, Lawrence JF, Lyal CH, Newton A, Reid CA, Schmitt M, Ślipiński SA, Smith A. 2011. ZooKeys 88: 1–972.

4.	Lawrence J.F., et al. (2000-2005) Elateriformia (Coleoptera): descriptions, illustrations, identification...

Contributed by Phillip Harpootlian on 16 March, 2005 - 11:44am
Additional contributions by cotinis, Robin McLeod, Tim Moyer, v belov, mpintar
Last updated 3 February, 2025 - 9:23am

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