Species Ptinus latro - Brown Spider Beetle

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Range · Habitat · Life Cycle · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

Superfamily Bostrichoidea

Family Ptinidae (Death-watch and Spider Beetles)

Subfamily Ptininae (Spider Beetles)

Tribe Ptinini

Genus Ptinus

No Taxon (subgenus Ptinus)

Species latro (Brown Spider Beetle)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Ptinus clavipes Panzer 1792 [used as valid in(1)], Ptinus hirtellus Sturm 1837

Explanation of Names

Ptinus latro Fabricius 1775

Size

3.0–3.7 mm(1)

Range

Eurasia, Africa; spread with trade worldwide(2); in Canada adults of the diploid form have been found in NS-ON & BC; triploid females, in Montreal and Toronto(3)(4); much of the US (NY-GA to WI-KS-CA)(1)

Habitat

The diploid form is found under natural conditions in the nests of wasps, birds, and rats, as well as in warehouses; the triploid form has been found mainly in warehouses, where it lives in close association with the bisexual form(3)

Life Cycle

females of the parthenogenetic form must mate with males of the sexual form to reproduce or, less successfully, with males of P. pusillus or P. fur (sperm activates the egg but does not contribute any chromosomes)(3)

Remarks

Females exist in two forms: diploid (sexual) and triploid (parthenogenetic)(3)

earliest record in our area: USA before 1905(5)

Internet References

Fact sheets: McLellan (2012) | McCaffrey & Walker (2012)(6)

Works Cited

1.	Death-watch and spider beetles of Wisconsin—Coleoptera: Ptinidae Arango, R.A. and D.K. Young. 2012. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-209. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory.

2.	Coleoptera Poloniae

3.	Beetles associated with stored products in Canada: An identification guide Bousquet Y. 1990. Research Branch Agriculture Canada, Publication 1837.

4.	Checklist of beetles (Coleoptera) of Canada and Alaska. Second edition Bousquet Y., Bouchard P., Davies A.E., Sikes D.S. 2013. ZooKeys 360: 1–402.

5.	The Derodontidae, Dermestidae, Bostrichidae, and Anobiidae of the Maritime Provinces of Canada (Coleoptera: Bostrichiformia) C.J. Majka. 2007. Zootaxa 1573: 1–38.

6.	PaDIL – High quality images and information tools designed for Biosecurity and Biodiversity

Contributed by v belov on 11 January, 2014 - 2:18pm
Last updated 11 March, 2015 - 7:46am

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