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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Cucujoidea » Erotylid series » Pleasing Fungus Beetles (Erotylidae) » Pleasing Fungus Beetles (Erotylinae) » Tritomini » Triplax

Genus Triplax

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Print References · Works Cited
Beetle - Triplax dissimulator beetle - Triplax flavicollis Triplax frontalis Horn - Triplax frontalis Pleasing Fungus Beetle - Triplax festiva T. mesosternalis - Triplax mesosternalis Triplax dissimulator Triplax sp. - Triplax flavicollis 9083621 triplax - Triplax
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Cucujoidea
No Taxon (Erotylid series)
Family Erotylidae (Pleasing Fungus Beetles)
Subfamily Erotylinae (Pleasing Fungus Beetles)
Tribe Tritomini
Genus Triplax
Explanation of Names
Triplax Herbst 1793
Greek for "triple, three-fold"
Numbers
18 spp. in our area, dozens worldwide(1), 9 spp. in Canada(2)
Size
4‒7 mm
Identification
Most species have reddish-orange pronotum and black elytra; T. festiva has orange band across elytra. Larvae are known for many species, but none formally described.
Range
worldwide and throughout NA (US and so. Canada), as follows:(1)(3)
1 transcontinental sp. (T. thoracica)
8 eastern spp., of which 3 range into Canada and one restricted to FL
4 western spp., of which 3 range into Canada
4 southwestern spp.
1 sp. restricted to TX
Habitat
in woodlands on gill or polypore fungi(4)
Season
Apr-Oct in IL; year-round in southern states
Food
larvae and adults feed either on Pleurotus (Tricholomataceae) or Polyporaceae, esp. Inonotus(4)(3)
Print References
Boyle W.W. (1962) A new species of Triplax from Arizona (Coleoptera: Erotylidae). Pan-Pac. Entomol. 38: 29‒30.
Goodrich M.A., Skelley P.E. (1993) The Pleasing Fungus Beetles of Illinois (Coleoptera: Erotylidae). Part II. Triplacinae. Triplax and Ischyrus. Trans. Ill. State Acad. Sci. 86: 153‒171(Full text)
Goodrich M.A., Skelley P.E. (1997) New synonymy in the genus Triplax Herbst (Coleoptera: Erotylidae), with notes on the biology of Triplax californica LeConte. Ann. Zool. (Warszawa) 47: 55‒58.
Works Cited
1.Skelley P.E. (2001) Pleasing fungus beetles of North America: Family Erotylidae
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.The Erotylidae and Endomychidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) of the Maritime Provinces of Canada...
C.G. Majka. 2007. Zootaxa 1546: 39–50.
4.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.
Contributed by Phillip Harpootlian on 29 March, 2005 - 10:13am
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 10 January, 2025 - 4:16pm

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