Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Zopherus

Ironclad Beetle - Zopherus granicollis Zopherus nodulosus? - Zopherus nodulosus beetle - Zopherus concolor Zopherus nodulosus haldemani Horn - Zopherus nodulosus Zopherus tristis? - Zopherus tristis - female Zopherus nodulosus haldemani - Zopherus nodulosus always fun to come across - Zopherus nodulosus Tenebrionidae - Zopherus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Tenebrionoidea
Family Zopheridae (Ironclad Beetles)
Subfamily Zopherinae (Ironclad Beetles)
Tribe Zopherini
Genus Zopherus
Explanation of Names
Zopherus Gray 1832
Greek 'dusky, gloomy'
Numbers
10 spp. in our area, 19 total(1)
Size
up to 40+ mm
Identification
Long, subcylindrical, with extremely tough exoskeleton. Head normally retracted into prothorax, viewed from above. Elytra fused.
Range
sw.US (so. border states + NV‒CO) to Venezuela(1)(2)
Internet References
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.A review of the genus Zopherus of the World (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)
Triplehorn C.A. 1972. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 108: 1‒24.
3.Lord N.P., Nearns E.H., Miller K.B. (2011-2013) Ironclad ID