British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera

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L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz

Melandryidae

= Serropalpidae; including Tetratomidae part.

General appearance. 3–15 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 1.75–4.45. Elytral length/pronotal length 2.47–5.6. 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 oval to elongate; not necked; not waisted to somewhat waisted. 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 not strongly protuberant (not prominent); not accommodating the antennae in a notch; bristly, or without bristles. Antennae short to long, but not exceeding the insect’s head to tail length; (10–)11 segmented. Antennal scape not swollen. Antennae filiform to gradually expanding acropetally. Antennal insertions visible from above, or hidden from above; not hidden by lateral extensions of the frons. Mandibular prosthecae well developed.

Pronotal length/maximum pronotal width 0.4–0.95. Prothorax with neither produced front corners nor serrated sides. Prothorax without notopleural sutures. Metaventrite without a transverse groove. Fore coxal cavites closed behind. The tarsi exhibiting bilobed segments, or 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 one segment fewer than the mid-tarsi; 4-segmented. Tarsal claws simple, or one-toothed or bifid. Elytral length/maximum width across the elytra 1.35–3.53. Elytra individually distinctly tapered to their apices; meeting along the length of the mid-line; exposing no more than part of the terminal tergite; hard. Scutellary striole present, or absent. Elytra non-glabrous (finely hairy); with epipleura. Elytral epipleura reaching to the tips of the elytra, or falling short of the elytral tips (?). Wings well developed.

Visible abdominal sternites 5; immovably joined 0, or 2. Abdominal segment 8 apparently without functional spiracles.

Habitat, ecology. Not predacious (?); in living vegetation, in rotting wood, under bark, and associated with fungi (and in old wood).

Larvae. Larvae not predacious (?); on living vegetation, in rotting wood, in or under bark, and in fungi.

Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Superfamily Cucujoidea.

British representation. Genera 11; 18 species. E.g., Abdera flexuosa (Banded Hallomenus); Abdera biflexuosa (Double-banded Hyplexus); Conopalpus testaceus; Orchesia undulata (Banded Orchesia Jumping Beetle); Osphya bipunctata (Twin-spotted Nothus, and var.).

Illustrations. • Abdera flexuosa Curtis (Banded Hallomenus: B. Ent. 474). • Abdera flexuosa (details, B. Ent. 474). • Abdera flexuosa: B. Ent. 474, legend+text. • Abdera biflexuosa (Curtis): Double-banded Hyplexus; B. Ent. 255. • Abdera biflexuosa: B. Ent. 255, legend+text. • Abdera biflexuosa: B. Ent. 255, text cont.. • Orchesia undulata (Banded Jumping-beetle: B. Ent. 197). • Osphya bipunctata (Twin-spotted Nothus, and var.: B. Ent. 538). • Conopalpus testaceus (Janson157).


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’.

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