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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Series Elateriformia » Pill, Water and Toe-winged Beetles (Byrrhoidea) » Water Penny Beetles (Psephenidae)

Family Psephenidae - Water Penny Beetles

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

black and orange beetle - Ectopria nervosa - female

Freshwater Crustacean? - Psephenus herricki

Psephenus possibly herricki - Psephenus herricki

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)

Superfamily Byrrhoidea (Pill, Water and Toe-winged Beetles)

Family Psephenidae (Water Penny Beetles)

Explanation of Names

Psephenidae Lacordaire 1854

see Psephenus

Water penny: larvae are flat, often circular

Numbers

16 spp. in 6 genera in our area(1), ~300 spp. in 15 genera total(2)

Size

3-7 mm(1)

Identification

Adults flattened, usually dark:

Larvae aquatic, distinctive, cling to rocks and found more often than adults:

Range

worldwide, most diverse in E. Asia; Eubrianacinae (represented in our area by Eubrianax) are circumpacific, Psepheninae (represented in our area by Psephenus) are primarily a New World group, and Eubriinae (the rest of our genera) are globally distributed(1)

Habitat

Larvae on the underside of rocks of submerged wood in fast-flowing water. Adults on rocks and vegetation along streams.

Season

Adults only in summer(1)

Food

Larvae graze on algae; some are detritivorous(1); adults are short-lived

Life Cycle

semivoltine; larvae overwinter, pupate under riparian substrates or in water(1)

Print References

(3)

Internet References

Family overview(4)

Family page (Hammond 2009)

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.	Order Coleoptera Linnaeus, 1758. In: Zhang Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification... Ślipiński S.A., Leschen R.A.B., Lawrence J.F. 2011. Zootaxa 3148: 203–208.

3.	Water Beetles of South Carolina Janet Ciegler. 2003. Clemson University.

4.	Lawrence J.F., et al. (2000-2005) Elateriformia (Coleoptera): descriptions, illustrations, identification...

Contributed by tom murray on 2 November, 2005 - 8:29pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Robin McLeod, Phillip Harpootlian, Chuck Entz, Tim Moyer, v belov
Last updated 12 January, 2015 - 9:53pm

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