Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Elateriformia » Elateroidea » Click Beetles (Elateridae) » Elaterinae » Melanotini » Melanotus » Melanotus communis Complex (Melanotus communis-complex)

Species Melanotus communis-complex - Melanotus communis Complex

click beetle - Melanotus communis-complex

Hairy reddish click beetle - Melanotus communis-complex

BioBlitz Bug 65 - Melanotus communis-complex

another Melanotus ? - Melanotus communis-complex

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)

Superfamily Elateroidea

Family Elateridae (Click Beetles)

Subfamily Elaterinae

Tribe Melanotini

Genus Melanotus

Species communis-complex (Melanotus communis Complex)

Range

Most species in this complex are variably distributed in eastern North America

Habitat

Species in this complex are readily attracted to lights and collected in Lindgren funnel traps. Adults may be collected under bark and in rotting pine and hardwoods.

Remarks

members of this complex usually cannot be reliably identified without examination of male genitalia, and include the following species(1):

Melanotus communis (Gyllenhal, 1817)

Melanotus similis (Kirby, 1837)

Melanotus indistinctus Quate, 1967

Melanotus dietrichi Quate, 1967

Melanotus miscellus Quate, 1967

Melanotus verberans (LeConte, 1853)

Melanotus emissus (LeConte, 1853)

Some other species are similar but can often be ruled out based on external characters:

Melanotus decumanus (Erichson, 1842)

Melanotus castanipes (Paykull, 1800)

Melanotus spadix (Erichson, 1842)

Works Cited

1.	Revision of click beetles of genus Melanotus in America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Elateridae). Quate, L.W., and S.E. Thompson. 1967. Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, 121(3568): 1-83.

Contributed by Jim McClarin on 18 October, 2007 - 6:29pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, v belov, bmathison1972
Last updated 3 June, 2019 - 8:29am

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