Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Gondwanocrypticus platensis

Gondwanocrypticus platensis (Fairmaire) - Gondwanocrypticus platensis Gondwanocrypticus platensis Loomis-0BG.J.2020.23 - Gondwanocrypticus platensis Loomis-0BG.J.2020.23 - Gondwanocrypticus platensis Darkling Beetles - Gondwanocrypticus platensis Could this be Gondwanocrypticus platensis? - Gondwanocrypticus platensis Gondwanocrypticus platensis? - Gondwanocrypticus platensis platensis? - Gondwanocrypticus platensis
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 Crypticini
Genus Gondwanocrypticus
Species platensis (Gondwanocrypticus platensis)
Explanation of Names
Gondwanocrypticus platensis (Fairmaire 1884)
Size
3.9-4.6 mm (1)
Identification
Antennomeres 1 & 2 reddish, 2 is much shorter and paler compared to 3, which is two times as long as 2 and darkly pigmented in contrast, pronotum noticeably more shining than the relatively dull elytra(1)

in G. obsoletus (Say), Antennomeres 2 & 3 similar in color and size, dorsum uniformly dull, somewhat polished(1)
Range
native to S. America, adventive in our area: se US (DE-FL to WV-TX) & CA - map(2)(3)(4)
Habitat
often associated with debris around ant nests (primarily of non-native ant species)(2)
Remarks
earliest record in our area: AL 1929(2); more commonly collected than the indigenous G. obsoletus(1)
Works Cited
1.Collection records of the crypticine darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae: Crypticini, Gondwanocrypticus) from the Chesapeake Bay Reg
Steiner, W.E., Jr., and J.M. Swearingen. 2014. The Maryland Entomologist 6(2):27–37.
2.New records of three non-native darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) established in California and Nevada, USA
Steiner W.E., Swearingen J.M. 2015. Col. Bull. 69: 22-26.
3.Catalogue of Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) of North America
Yves Bousquet, Donald B. Thomas, Patrice Bouchard, Aaron D. Smith, Rolf L. Aalbu, M. Andrew Johnston, Warren E. Steiner Jr. 2018. ZooKeys 728: 1-455.
4.Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)