British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera |
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~ Hylophilidae, Xylophilidae.
General appearance. 1.5–2 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 1.4–3.1. Elytral length/pronotal length 2.7–5.2. Base of prothorax not or scarcely narrower than the combined elytral bases, or distinctly narrower than the combined elytral bases. Greatest prothoracic width not narrower or only slightly narrower than the greatest elytral width, or distinctly narrower than greatest elytral width. Beetles elongate-oval; conspicuously necked; somewhat waisted to conspicuously waisted; entirely reddish, or with head and thorax black. Upper surfaces of body glabrous or subglabrous, or non-glabrous; not bristly; with neither scales nor scale-like setae.
Detailed morphology. Beetles not prognathous. Eyes strongly protuberant, or not strongly protuberant; accommodating the antennae in an anterior notch; bristly, or without bristles. Ocelli absent. Antennae about half the insect's head to tail length to long, but not exceeding the insects head to tail length; 11 segmented; hairy. Antennal scape not swollen. Antennae filiform. Antennal insertions visible from above.
Prothorax about as long as wide. Pronotal length/maximum pronotal width 0.4–1.2. Prothorax at its widest markedly narrower than the adjoining part of the abdomen. Prothorax without notopleural sutures. Metaventrite without a transverse groove. Fore coxal cavites closed behind. The tarsi exhibiting bilobed segments (weakly), or without bilobed segments (lobed beneath only); those of the front and middle legs, and sometimes of the hind legs with a tiny penultimate segment hidden by lobing of the one proximal to it (in all the legs the basal segment is very long, the antepenultimate one is lobed beneath, and the penultimate one is very small). Mid-leg tarsi 5-segmented; pseudotetramerous. Claws of the mid-leg tarsi not appendaged. Front tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 5-segmented. Hind tarsi with one segment fewer than the mid-tarsi; 4-segmented. Tarsal claws simple. Elytral length/maximum width across the elytra 1.15–2.52. Elytra covering most of the abdomen; exposing no more than part of the terminal tergite. Scutellary striole absent. Wings well developed.
Visible abdominal sternites 4–5; immovably joined 0, or 2 (the two basal sternites immovable). Abdominal segment 8 apparently without functional spiracles.
Habitat, ecology. Predacious, or not predacious (?); in rotting wood.
General comments. Head sharply constricted behind the eyes.
Larvae. Larvae predacious, or not predacious (?); in rotting wood.
Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Superfamily Cucujoidea.
British representation. Genera 1 (Aderus); 3 species. E.g., Aderus oculatus (Fly-headed Beetle).
Illustrations. • Aderus oculatus (Fly-headed beetle: B. Ent. 299). • Aderus oculatus (B. Ent. 299, details). • Aderus oculatus (B. Ent. 299, legend+text).
To view the illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the families of Coleoptera. Version: 9th June 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.