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Family Erotylidae - Pleasing Fungus Beetles

Megalodacne heros Pleasing fungus beetle - Triplax thoracica Dasydactylus cnici Schaeffer - Dasydactylus cnici Beetle - Cypherotylus californicus Toramus chamaeropis (Schaeffer) - Toramus chamaeropis
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)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
includes Lizard Beetles, formerly treated as a separate family Languriidae but currently split into a number of groups placed into various subfamilies of Erotylidae
This site follows the classification of Węgrzynowicz (2002)(1)
Explanation of Names
Erotylidae Latreille 1802
Greek erotilos 'sweetheart, darling' (diminutive from eros)(2)
Numbers
>80 spp. in 20 genera in our area, ~3,500 spp. in 260 genera worldwide(3)l(4)
Size
2-22 mm
Identification
Online key to NA genera: see(5); key to midwestern spp. in(6)
Overview of our fauna:
Family EROTYLIDAE
Subfamily Xenoscelinae

Subfamily Erotylinae
Tribe Dacnini

Tribe Languriini

Tribe Erotylini
Genus Gibbifer

Tribe Tritomini

Tribe Encaustini
Range
worldwide and throughout N. Amer. except far north; most diverse in warmer climates, esp. in the tropics
Life Cycle
larvae and adults feed on the fruiting bodies of fungi growing in decaying wood (3)
Print References
Boyle, W.W. 1956. A revision of the Erotylidae of America north of Mexico (Coleoptera). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 110: 61-172, 141 figs., 8 pls.