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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Series Cucujiformia » Sap, Bark and Fungus Beetles (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 · Internet References · Works Cited
Pleasing Fungus Beetle - Triplax Triplax frontalis Horn - Triplax frontalis Erotylidae, head, ventral - Triplax thoracica Tritomini? - Triplax thoracica fungus beetle oyster porling - Triplax mesosternalis beetle - Triplax thoracica Triplax macra Triplax thoracica - Triplax
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 Cucujoidea (Sap, Bark and Fungus Beetles)
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 broad orange band across middle of elytra. Larvae are known for many species, but none have been 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 is FL endemic)
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-Pacific Entomologist 38(1): 29-30.
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. Annales Zoologici (Warszawa) 47(1/2): 55-58.
Internet References
Goodrich M.A., Skelley P.E. The Pleasing Fungus Beetles of Illinois
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 22 December, 2014 - 3:12pm

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