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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Elateriformia » Byrrhoidea » Water Penny Beetles (Psephenidae)

Family Psephenidae - Water Penny Beetles

Water Penny Beetle - Psephenus herricki ps - Psephenus texanus Ectopria leechi - female Acneus quadrimaculatus Horn - Acneus quadrimaculatus - male Ectopria Water Penny - Ectopria Beetle - Ectopria nervosa - female Psephenus sp - Psephenus falli
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)
Superfamily Byrrhoidea
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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