Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Genus Eleodes - Desert Stink Beetles

Eleodes 3 - Eleodes dentipes CCBeetle - Eleodes fusiformis Eleodes obscurus? - Eleodes obscura Which Eleodes? - Eleodes nigrina Eleodes obscurus sulcipennis - Eleodes obscura Eleodes obscura sulcipennis? - Eleodes obscura Darkling beetle Aug 3 - Eleodes extricata Eleodes acuticauda - female
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 Tenebrionidae (Darkling Beetles)
Subfamily Blaptinae
Tribe Amphidorini
Genus Eleodes (Desert Stink Beetles)
Other Common Names
Circus Beetles
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
recent changes in (1)
Explanation of Names
Eleodes Eschscholtz 1829
currently treated as feminine, which was overlooked or neglected by some authors
Numbers
New World's largest tenebrionid genus, with ~210 described spp. (~130 in our area, some with multiple sspp.) arranged into 16 subgenera (all but 3 in our area)(2)
Size
10‒50 mm(3)
Identification
subgenera defined based primarily on female genitalia(4)
keys to AZ spp. in (5)
review of the TX spp. in (6)
key to larvae in (3)
Range
w.NA (BC‒MB to Mexico); in our fauna, >40 spp. are either CA endemics or do not occur outside CA in the US(2)
Remarks
larvae of E. extricata, E. hispilabris, E. obsoleta, E. opaca, E. suturalis are considered pests; they feed on seeds, roots, and subterreanean stems(3)
Works Cited
1.Redefinition of the Eleodes Eschscholtz subgenera Tricheleodes Blaisdell and Pseudeleodes Blaisdell...
Johnston M.A. 2016. Ann. Zool. 66: 665-679.
2.Catalogue of Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) of North America
Yves Bousquet, Donald B. Thomas, Patrice Bouchard, Aaron D. Smith, Rolf L. Aalbu, M. Andrew Johnston, Warren E. Steiner Jr. 2018. ZooKeys 728: 1-455.
3.Larvae of the genus Eleodes (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae): matrix-based descriptions, cladistic analysis, and key to late instars
Smith A.D., Dornburg R., Wheeler Q.D. 2014. ZooKeys 415: 217–268.
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.
5.Amphidorini LeConte (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) of Arizona: keys and species accounts
Johnston M.A., Fleming D., Franz N.M., Smith A.D. 2015. Col. Bull. 69(mo4): 27-54.
6.The genus Eleodes Eschscholtz (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in Texas.
Triplehorn et al. 2009. The Coleopterists Bulletin 63(4): 413-437.