British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera
British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera |
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General appearance. 1.3–11 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 2.45–3. Elytral length/pronotal length 2.9–4.75. Base of prothorax 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; dorsally flattened; not necked; conspicuously waisted. Upper surfaces of body glabrous or subglabrous; not bristly; with neither scales nor scale-like setae.
Detailed morphology. Beetles without a rostrum; prognathous. Eyes strongly protuberant, or not strongly protuberant; without bristles. Antennae short; 11 segmented. Antennal scape not swollen. Antennae filiform (or sub-moniliform), or clubbed. Antennal insertions visible from above, or hidden from above. Mandibular prosthecae well developed to absent.
Prothorax shorter than wide. Pronotal length/maximum pronotal width 0.46–0.85. Prothorax at its widest not markedly narrower than the adjoining part of the abdomen. Prothorax without notopleural sutures. Metaventrite without a transverse groove. Fore coxal cavites open behind. The tarsi without bilobed segments; with a tiny basal segment that is hard to detect, or without ‘hidden’ segments. Mid-leg tarsi 5-segmented; pentamerous. Claws of the mid-leg tarsi not appendaged. Front tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 4-segmented, or 5-segmented. Hind tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi, or with one segment fewer than the mid-tarsi; 4-segmented, or 5-segmented. Tarsal claws simple. Elytral length/maximum width across the elytra 1.95–2.4. Elytra covering most of the abdomen; exposing no more than part of the terminal tergite. Scutellary striole absent. Elytra glabrous; with epipleura. Elytral epipleura reaching to the tips of the elytra. Wings well developed.
Visible abdominal sternites 5; immovably joined 0. Abdominal segment 8 apparently without functional spiracles.
Habitat, ecology. Land-dwellers; predacious; under bark.
Larvae. Larvae predacious, or not predacious (?); in rotting wood, or in dried plant material, or in or under bark.
Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Superfamily Cucujoidea.
British representation. Genera 7; 14 species. E.g., Cryptolestes spartii (Broom Cucujus).
Illustrations. • Cryptolestes spartii (Curtis): Broom Cucujus, B. Ent. 510. • Cryptolestes spartii (details, B. Ent. 510). • Cryptolestes spartii (B. Ent. 510, 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: 18th September 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.
