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Genus Gnathium

Tiny orange Meloid with proboscis - Gnathium francilloni Gnathium francilloni Kirby - Gnathium francilloni Flower Beetle? - Gnathium nitidum Gnathium minimum? - Gnathium minimum Gnathium minimum? - Gnathium minimum Gnathium? - Gnathium nitidum Gnathium? - Gnathium slender brown beetle - Gnathium
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 Meloidae (Blister Beetles)
Subfamily Nemognathinae
Tribe Nemognathini
Genus Gnathium
Explanation of Names
Gnathium Kirby 1818
Numbers
15 species, all in our area(1)
Size
among the smallest in the family, at 4-5 mm in average and rarely >7 mm(1)
Identification
species very uniform anatomically; reviewed by Pinto (2009)(1), key on p.8;
an incomplete, but still useful treatment of MacSwain (1952)(2)
Food
phoretic larvae have been taken from Andrenidae; adults on Asteraceae(1)
Remarks
Species not yet in guide:
G. eremicola MacSwain, 1952 [CA]
G. kanei Pinto, 2009 [UT]
G. longicolle (LeConte, 1858) [TX]
G. martini MacSwain, 1952 [TX]
G. murrayorum Pinto, 2009 [TX]
G. nanulum MacSwain, 1952 [TX]
G. obscurum MacSwain, 1952 [CA]
G. politum Dillon, 1952 [AZ - TX, Mex.]
G. texanum Horn, 1870 [cKS - eTX; AZ]
G. vandykei MacSwain, 1952 [CA]
Works Cited
1.A taxonomic review of the genus Gnathium Kirby (Coleoptera: Meloidae)
Pinto J.D. 2009. Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 135: 1-58.
2.A Synopsis of the Genus Gnathium with Description of New Species (Coleoptera, Meloidae)
MacSwain, J.W. 1952. Wasmann Journal of Biology 10 (2): 205 - 224.