Genus Cercyon

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Habitat · Remarks · Print References · Works Cited

Water Scavenger Beetle - Cercyon connivens

Minute Beetle collected in Pitfall Trap S. Maine - Cercyon minusculus

Hydrolphilidae, frontal - Cercyon praetextatus

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Staphyliniformia)

Superfamily Hydrophiloidea

Family Hydrophilidae (Water Scavenger Beetles)

Subfamily Sphaeridiinae

Tribe Megasternini

Genus Cercyon

Explanation of Names

Cercyon Leach 1817

Cercyon: in Greek mythology, the son of Poseidon

Numbers

~40 spp. in our area, many introduced from the Palaearctic(1), >250 spp. worldwide(2)

Identification

keys in(3)

Habitat

Many spp. found in dung, carrion, compost, fungi, and leaf litter

Remarks

readily spread by commerce: 16 spp. have been introduced by humans out of their native range (mostly Palaearctic)(2); adults of many spp. come to lights

Print References

(4)

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.	Occurrence of introduced species of the genus Cercyon (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) in the Neotropical Region M. Fikáček. 2009. Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent. 68: 351-357.

3.	Revision of the subfamily Sphaeridiinae of America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) Smetana A. 1978. Mem. Ent. Soc. Canada 105: 1–292.

4.	A review of the Cercyon Leach (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Sphaeridiinae) of the Greater Antilles Emmanuel Arriaga-Varela, Matthias Seidel, Albert Deler-Hernández, Viktor Senderov, Martin Fikácek. 2017. ZooKeys 681: 39-93.

Contributed by Jim McClarin on 19 September, 2005 - 8:35pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, v belov, Russell Rogers
Last updated 20 February, 2022 - 12:26pm

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