British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera
British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera |
|
Including Niponiidae.
General appearance. 0.8–10 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 1.1–3.6. Elytral length/pronotal length 0.5–2.5. Base of prothorax not or scarcely narrower than the combined elytral bases. Greatest prothoracic width not narrower or only slightly narrower than the greatest elytral width. Beetles oval; dorsally flattened; not necked; not waisted to somewhat waisted. Upper surfaces of body glabrous or subglabrous, or non-glabrous; not bristly; exhibiting scales or scale-like setae, or with neither scales nor scale-like setae.
Detailed morphology. Beetles prognathous. Eyes strongly protuberant, or not strongly protuberant; without bristles; finely facetted. Antennae very short to short; more or less conspicuously elbowed; 8–11 segmented; with the scape much-elongated (and curved); clubbed. Antennal clubs 3 segmented (compact, pilose). Antennal insertions visible from above, or hidden from above.
Prothorax shorter than wide. Pronotal length/maximum pronotal width 0.45–1.8. Prothorax at its widest not markedly narrower than the adjoining part of the abdomen. Prothorax without notopleural sutures. Metaventrite without a transverse groove. The tarsi without bilobed segments; 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; 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 0.5–1.6. Elytra meeting along the length of the mid-line; covering most of the abdomen, or short, exposing several terminal abdominal tergites (fairly, revealing 2 or 2–3 tergites); exposing no more than part of the terminal tergite to at least one but fewer than three complete abdominal tergites; truncate; glossy; striate (but never fully nine- or ten-striate). Scutellary striole absent. Wings well developed.
Abdominal tergites 7. Visible abdominal sternites 5; immovably joined 0. Abdominal segment 8 apparently without functional spiracles.
Habitat, ecology. Predacious (on insect larvae); in decaying plant material, or in rotting wood, or under bark, or associated with dung, or associated with carrion.
Larvae. Larvae predacious (on insect larvae); in decaying plant material, or in rotting wood, or in or under bark, or in dung, or in carrion.
Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Superfamily Histeroidea.
British representation. Genera 22; 49 species. E.g., Dendrophilus pygmaeus; Hister quadrimaculatus (Lunar-spotted Mimic-beetle); Onthophilus punctatus.
Illustrations. • Dendrophilus pygmaeus (Sheppardian Hister: B. Ent. 131). • Dendrophilus pygmaeus (B. Ent. 131, legend+text). • Dendrophilus pygmaeus (B. Ent. 131, text cont.). • Hister quadrimaculatus (Lunar-spotted Mimic-beetle: B. Ent. 470). • Hister quadrimaculatus (details, B. Ent. 470). • Hister quadrimaculatus: B. Ent. 470, legend+text. • Onthophilus punctatus (B. Ent. 220). • Onthophilus punctatus (Janson 88).
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’.
