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TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Genus Chauliognathus

Soldier Beetles - Chauliognathus omissus Margined Leatherwing - Chauliognathus marginatus goldenrod soldier beetle - Chauliognathus pensylvanicus Long-horned beetle? - Chauliognathus pensylvanicus Nice Orange Beetle - Chauliognathus basalis Unknown 'Bug' 1837 - Chauliognathus misellus Margined Leatherwing or Goldenrod Soldier Beetle? - Chauliognathus marginatus Chauliognathus scutellaris
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 Cantharidae (Soldier Beetles)
Subfamily Chauliognathinae
Tribe Chauliognathini
Genus Chauliognathus
Explanation of Names
Chauliognathus Hentz 1830
Greek 'protruding jaws'
Numbers
19 spp. in our area, hundreds worldwide(1)
Size
8-14 mm
Identification
key to species in(2)
Range
in N. America, widespread(1) but much more diverse in the south; C. pennsylvanicus and C. marginatus are widely eastern (both range into Canada), other spp. mostly in sw. US(2)(3)
Season
Summer into fall in temperate areas
Food
Larvae are predators. Adults of our spp. feed on pollen and nectar(1). Adults are also known to prey on other insects.
Life Cycle
They overwinter as larvae underground. There can be as many as 10 instars.
Remarks
Adults are frequently found on flowers and are probably good pollinators.
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.The Chauliognathini of America north of Mexico (Coleoptera-Cantharidae). Parts 1 & 2
Fender K.M. 1964. Northwest Science 38: 52–64, 95-106.
3.Checklist of beetles (Coleoptera) of Canada and Alaska. Second edition
Bousquet Y., Bouchard P., Davies A.E., Sikes D.S. 2013. ZooKeys 360: 1–402.