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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 » Ship-timber Beetles (Lymexyloidea) » Lymexylidae » Melittomma » Chestnut Timberworm (Melittomma sericeum)
Photo#729678
Melittomma sericeum - male
Copyright © 2012 Frank Guarnieri

Melittomma sericeum - Male
Hereford, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA
July 17, 2006
Size: 10 mm
Collected at UV light. 39.6008, -76.6425
Close up of palps. I wonder what those are for? They look like boxing gloves.

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Melittomma sericeum - male Melittomma sericeum - male
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Contributed by Frank Guarnieri on 10 December, 2012 - 3:59pm
Last updated 30 April, 2020 - 3:39pm

"The complex and conspicuous
"The complex and conspicuous basket-like structure attached to the third segment of each maxillary palp of Melittomma sericeum males is densely covered with tactile hairs on its outer or convex surface and with thinwalled chemoreceptors on its inner or concave surface. In a living male the structure is highly mobile and is extended laterally and ventrally. It evidently serves to detect odors produced by the female."

Interesting!
… Bob Webster, 15 July, 2013 - 9:31pm login or register to post comments

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