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COLEOPTERA, Lathridiidae -- <Images> & <Juveniles>

Description

These are called "minute brown scavenger beetles," which are found in moldy places and debris and occasionally on flowers. Adults of Enicmus minutus L. feed extensively on the beech scale, Cryptococcus fagi Baer, in England. The South American Coccidophilus citricola Brethes, is predatory in its active stages on diaspine Coccidae (Flanders 1936b). Females lay their eggs beneath the host scale covering, and hatching occurs in 8-9 days. The larvae feed for 10 days, but the stage persists for 13-20 days. They pupate in crevices, and adult beetles emerge 5 days later. The life cycle from egg to adult is 27-35 days at 24-27°C. (Clausen 1940/62).

Latridiidae is a family of very small (1.1-3.4 mm) mycophagous and myxomycophagous beetles.  At present, the family includes 35 genera and approximately 1100 species (including fossil taxa).  Latridiidae is divided into 3 subfamilies (2 extant and 1 extinct):  Latridiinae, Corticariinae and Tetrameropsinae.  Although latridiids are best known from the temperate regions of the world, the family is truly cosmopolitan with several genera widely introduced as stored product pests (e.g., Corticaria, Melanophthalma, Latridius).

Many latridiid adults and larvae feed on the conidia and hyphae of fungi, while a small number of species are specialists on myxomycete spores (Lawrence 1982, Lawrence 1991, Andrews 2002, Hartley and McHugh in press).  Adults are most often encountered during the wetter seasons of the year and are frequently collected by beating decaying vegetation and by Berlese funnel extraction from sifted leaf litter.  They are also occasionally collected in pitfall traps and light traps.  Some species are known to be associated with the litter in nests of Neotoma wood rats (Hartley et al. 2007, Hartley and McHugh in press).  At least 30 widespread species have been listed as stored product pests of humans (Hinton 1941), and one species, Eufallia seminiveus Motschulsky was reported to bite humans (Parsons 1969).

Adults are quite small in size and brown to blackish with an elongated body shape.  Adults of the various subfamilies are easy to distinguish.  Some species are apterous or nearly so, and they may be a reduction or complete loss of eyes.

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References: Please refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL Library]

Andrews, F.G. 2002. Chapter 95. Latridiidae Erichson 1842, pp. 395-398. In R. H. Arnett, M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank [eds.], American Beetles, Volume 2. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

Belon, R. P. 1902. Coleoptera Clavicornia Fam. Lathridiidae, pp. 1-40 + 1 pl. In P. Wytsman [ed.], Genera Insectorum. P. Wytsman, Brussels.

Bousquet, Y., P. Bouchard & N. P. Lord. 2010. Lathriidae Erichson, 1842 (Insecta, Coleoptera): proposed precedence over Corticariidae Curtis, 1829; and Corticaria Marsham, 1802: proposed conservation of usage by designation of Corticaria ferruginea

Crowson, R.A. 1955. The Natural Classification of the Families of Coleoptera. Lloyd, London. 187 pp.

Hartley, C. and J.V. McHugh. 10.35. Latridiidae Erichson, 1842. In R.G. Beutel and R.A.B. Leschen (eds.). Handbuch der Zoologie. Band IV, Teilband 38, vol. 2. De Gruyter, Berlin. In Press.

Hartley, C. S. & J. V. McHugh. 2010. Latridiidae Erichson, 184[sic!]. Pp. 481-486 in: Leschen, R.A.B.; Beutel, R.G.; Lawrence, J.F. (volume eds.) Coleoptera, beetles. Volume 2: Morphology and systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim). In: Kristensen, N.P. & Beutel, R.G. (eds.) Handbook of zoology. A natural history of the phyla of the animal kingdom. Volume IV. Arthropoda: Insecta. Part 38. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter.

Hartley, C., F.G. Andrews and J.V. McHugh. 2007. A revision of Akalyptoischion (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea). Patricia Vaurie Monograph Series Monograph 6. Coleopterists Society, North Potomac, MD. 50 p.

Hetschko, A. 1926. Pars 85: Lathridiidae. In S. Schenkling [ed.], Coleopterorum Catalogus. W. Junk, Berlin. 86 p.

Hinton, H. E. 1941. The Lathridiidae of economic importance. Bulletin of entomological research, 32: 191-247.

Johnson, C. 2007. Family Latridiidae Erichson, 1842, pp. 635-648. In I. Lobl and A. Smetana [eds.], Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Volume 4. Elateroidea - Derodontoidea - Bostrichoidea - Lymexyloidea - Cleroidea - Cucujoidea. Apollo Books, Stenstrup. 935 p.

Kirejtshuk, A. G. & D. Azar. 2008. New taxa of beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Lebanese amber with evolutionary and systematic comments. Alavesia, 2: 15-46.

Lawrence, J. F. 1982. Lathridiidae, pp. 533-534. In S. P. Parker [ed.], Synopsis & Classification of Living Organisms. McGraw Hill, Inc., New York.

Lawrence, J. F. 1991. Lathridiidae (Cucujoidea), pp. 497-498. In F. W. Stehr [ed.], Immature Insects. Volume 2. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, IA.

Lawrence, J. F., A. M. Hastings, M. J. Dallwitz, T. A. Paine, and E. J. Zurcher 1999a. Beetles of the World: A Key and Information System for Families and Subfamilies. CD-ROM, version 1.0 for MS-Windows. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.

Lawrence, J. F., A. M. Hastings, M. J. Dallwitz, T. A. Paine, and E. J. Zurcher 1999b. Beetle Larvae of the World: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval for Families and Sub-families. CD-ROM, version 1.1 for MS-Windows. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.

Lawrence, J. F., and A. F. Newton. 1995. Families and subfamilies of Coleoptera (with selected genera, notes, references and data on family-group names), pp. 779-1006. In J. Pakaluk and S. A. Slipinski [eds.], Biology, Phylogeny, and Classification of Coleoptera: Papers Celebrating the 80th Birthday of Roy A. Crowson. Museum i Instytut Zoologii PAN, Warszawa.

Lobl, I. & A. Smetana (eds). 2007. Catalogue of Palearctic Coleoptera. Vol. 4: Elateroidea, Derodontoidea, Bostrichoidea, Lymexyloidea, Cleroidea and Cucujoidea. Apollo Books, Stenstrup, Denmark

Lord, N. P., C. S. Hartley, J. F. Lawrence, J. V. McHugh, M. F. Whiting & K. G. Miller. 2010. Phylogenetic analysis of the minute brown scavenger beetles (Coleoptera: Latridiidae), and recognition of a new beetle family, Akalyptoischiidae, fam. n. (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea). Systematic entomology, 35: 753-763.

Lord, N.P. 2008. Systematics within the Cerylonid Series (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea). Masters Thesis, University of Georgia, Athens.

Marsham, 1802 as the type species. Bulletin of zoological nomenclature, 67: 145-150.

Pakaluk, J., S. A. Slipinski, and J. F. Lawrence. 1994. Current classification and family-group names in Cucujoidea (Coleoptera). Genus 5: 223-268.

Parsons, C. T. 1969. A lathridiid beetle reported to bite man. The Coleopterists Bulletin 23: 15.

Robertson, J.A., M.F. Whiting and J.V. McHugh. 2008. Searching for natural lineages within the Cerylonid Series (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46 (1): 193-205.

Rucker, W. 2005. Typenstudien paläarktischer und australischer Latridiidae (Coleoptera: Latridiidae). Latridiidae, 3: 11-17.

Shockley, F. W. & N. J. Vandenberg. 2009. Catalogue of the primary types of Cerylonidae, Endomychidae and Latridiidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) deposited in the National Museum of Natural History, with additional notes and clarification of the status of several types. Zootaxa, 2229: 1-64.

Ślipiński, S. A., and J. Pakaluk. 1991. Problems in the classification of the Cerylonid series of Cucujoidea (Coleoptera), pp. 79-88. In M. Zunino, X. Belles and M. Blas [eds.], Advances in Coleopterology. AEC, Barcelona.

Watt, J. C. 1969. Keys to genera and some species of New Zealand Lathridiidae (Coleoptera). New Zealand entomologist, 4(2): 49-67.