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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 Cucujiformia » Sap, Bark and Fungus Beetles (Cucujoidea) » Cucujid series » Shining Flower Beetles (Phalacridae)

Family Phalacridae - Shining Flower Beetles

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · See Also · Works Cited
Litochropus Cluster of small beetles on flower heads - Olibrus Olibrus LRB - Little Round Beetle - Acylomus 160401C01 - Stilbus Stilbus apicalis Black Neetle - Olibrus Tiny round beetle - Stilbus
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 Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Cucujoidea (Sap, Bark and Fungus Beetles)
No Taxon (Cucujid series)
Family Phalacridae (Shining Flower Beetles)
Other Common Names
Shining Mold Beetles
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
genera redefined/revised in(1)
Explanation of Names
Phalacridae Leach 1815
see Phalacrus
Numbers
122 spp. in 12 genera in our area, much more diverse towards the south(2), with just 8 spp. in Canada(3); >630 spp. in 34 genera worldwide(1)
Overview of our fauna adapted from(1)
Family Phalacridae
Stilbus-group Acylomus, Stilbus, Xanthocomus
Pseudolibrus-group Litostilbus
Phalacrus-group Phalacropsis, Phalacrus
Olibroporus-group Olibroporus
Ochrolitus-group Ochrolitus
Olibrus-group Olibrus
Litochropus-group Litochropus, Neolitochrus
Incertae sedis Apallodes
Size
1-3 mm (2)
Identification
key to world genera in(1)
species identification often requires a study of male genitalia(2); keying to genus requires seeing hind tarsi and prosternal process(4)
Range
worldwide, most diverse in the Old World tropics; in N. Amer., across the continent north to so. Canada(1)
Food
where known, both adults and larvae in most cases feed on spores or hyphae of fungi [incl. ascomycetes, Claviceps (ergot), smut/rust fungi (Ustilaginales, Pucciniales)]; Olibrus larvae feed on fluid material within flower heads of Asteraceae, but are pollen feeders as adults (1)
See Also
Works Cited
1.Genus-level revision of the family Phalacridae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea)
Gimmel M. 2013. Zootaxa 3605: 1–147.
2.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.
3.The Phalacridae of Canada: new records, distribution, and bionomics with a particular focus on the Atlantic Canadian fauna
C.G. Majka, M.L. Gimmel, & D. Langor. 2008. Majka C.G., Klimaszewski J. (Eds) Biodiversity, Biosystematics, and Ecology of Canadian Coleoptera. ZooKeys 2: 209-220.
4.The Beetles of Northeastern North America, Vol. 1 and 2.
Downie, N.M., and R.H. Arnett. 1996. The Sandhill Crane Press, Gainesville, FL.
Contributed by Jim McClarin on 29 November, 2005 - 8:37pm
Additional contributions by Phillip Harpootlian, Mike Quinn, Tim Moyer, v belov
Last updated 18 January, 2015 - 6:30pm

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