Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Tenebrionoidea » Darkling Beetles (Tenebrionidae) » Diaperinae » Diaperini » Adelinina » Gnatocerus » Broad-horned Flour Beetle (Gnatocerus cornutus)

Species Gnatocerus cornutus - Broad-horned Flour Beetle

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 Diaperinae

Tribe Diaperini

Subtribe Adelinina

Genus Gnatocerus

Species cornutus (Broad-horned Flour Beetle)

Explanation of Names

Gnatocerus cornutus (Fabricius 1798)

Size

~4 mm(1)

Identification

male has broad horns on mandibles(1)

Range

native to the Old World (according to(2), to the Neotropics), spread through commerce and currently cosmopolitan(3)

Habitat

mainly in flour mills and warehouses (able to survive winter conditions only in heated buildings)(4)

Food

cereal and animal products; larvae will feed on the eggs and injured adults, larvae, and pupae of the Mediterranean flour moth (Anagasta kuehniella)(1)

Remarks

minor pest of cereal and animal products(4), usually associated with infestations of moths(1); earliest NA record: ca. 1670(3)

Internet References

Darkling Beetles of Florida and E. US (5)

Works Cited

1.	Handbook of urban insects and arachnids: A handbook of urban entomology Robinson W.H. 2005. Cambridge University Press.

2.	Coleoptera families other than Cerambycidae, Curculionidae sensu lato, Chrysomelidae sensu lato and Coccinelidae -- Chapter 8.5 Denux O., Zagatti P. 2010. BioRisk 4: 315–406.

3.	The Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) of the Maritime Provinces of Canada Majka C.G., Bouchard P., Bousquet Y. 2008. Can. Entomol. 140: 690‒713.

4.	Beetles associated with stored products in Canada: An identification guide Bousquet Y. 1990. Research Branch Agriculture Canada, Publication 1837.

5.	The Darkling Beetles of Florida and Eastern United States

Contributed by v belov on 19 May, 2009 - 2:14pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn
Last updated 22 July, 2022 - 11:56am

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