Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Euparia castanea LePeletier and Serville, 1828
Explanation of Names
castanea (L). 'The Chestnut'
(1), here a reference to the color, not the tree.
Range
mostly along Gulf coastal plains: GA to Panama -
Map (4)(5)(6)Habitat
Wojcik et al. (1977) report Euparia castanea from the nests of the native tropical fire ants Solenopsis geminata and southern fire ants S. xyloni. E. castanea was never coll'ed from over 1,500 nests of the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicts floated from 7 states nor from over 100 nests of S. richteri from 2 states. E. castanea were not among the myrmecophiles found in several hundred nests of 24 other general of ants that were examined. (Wojcik et al. 1977)
Season
adults coll'ed at light traps in FL: Feb-Oct (Wojcik et al. 1978)
Food
E. castanea eat ant brood (Wojcik 1975)
Remarks
the larva is described in Ritcher (1966).
Print References
Ritcher, P.O. 1966. White grubs and their allies: A study of North American scarabaeoid larvae. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon. Studies in Entomology 4: 219 pp.
Wojcik, D.P. 1975. Biology of Myrmecaphodius excavaticollis (Blanchard) and Euparia castanea Serville (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and their relationships to Solenopsis spp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville. 74 pp.
Wojcik, D.P., W.A. Banks, D.M. Hicks, and J.W. Summerlin. 1977. Fire ant myrmecophiles: new hosts and distribution of Myrmecaphodius excavaticollis (Blanchard) and Euparia castanea Serville (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin 31(4): 329-334.
Wojcik, D.P., and D.H. Habeck. 1977. Fire ant Myrmecophiles: Breeding period and ovariole number in Myrmecaphodius excavaticollis (Blanchard) and Euparia castanea Serville (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin 31: 335-338.
Wojcik, D.P., W.A. Banks and D.H. Habeck. 1978. Fire Ant Myrmecophiles: Flight Periods of
Myrmecaphodius excavaticollis (Blanchard) and
Euparia castanea Serville (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin 32(1): 59-64.
JSTOR
Wojcik, D.P., B.J. Smittle, and H.L. Cromroy. 1991. Fire ant myrmecophiles: Feeding relationships of Martinezia dutertrei and Euparia castanea (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) with their ants hosts, Solenopsis spp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insectes Sociaux 38: 273-281.
