British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera
British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera |
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~Pythidae; including Aegialitidae, Colydiidae part, Dacoderidae, Elacatidae, Eurystethidae, Inopeplidae, Othniidae, Tenebrionidae part, Tretothoracidae.
General appearance. 2.5–4 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 1.8–6.85. Elytral length/pronotal length 1.5–3.6. 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. Body noticeably widest immediately behind the thorax. Beetles elongate-oval to elongate; not necked; conspicuously waisted. Upper surfaces of body glabrous or subglabrous, or non-glabrous; not bristly, or exhibiting stiff, erect, dark bristles; exhibiting scales or scale-like setae, or with neither scales nor scale-like setae.
Detailed morphology. Beetles equipped with a rostrum, or without a rostrum; prognathous. Eyes strongly protuberant, or not strongly protuberant; without bristles. Antennae short to about half the insect's head to tail length; 10–11 segmented. Antennal scape not swollen. Antennae filiform, or gradually expanding acropetally. Antennal insertions visible from above, or hidden from above. Mandibular prosthecae well developed to absent.
Pronotal length/maximum pronotal width 0.56–1.6. Prothorax without notopleural sutures. Metaventrite without a transverse groove. Fore coxal cavites closed behind. The tarsi without bilobed segments; without ‘hidden’ segments. Mid-leg tarsi 4-segmented, or 5-segmented; pentamerous, or tetramerous. 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. Tarsal claws simple, or one-toothed or bifid. Elytral length/maximum width across the elytra 0.95–2.68. Elytra covering most of the abdomen; exposing no more than part of the terminal tergite, or at least three complete abdominal tergites; glossy. Scutellary striole present, or absent. Wings well developed, or absent or much reduced.
Visible abdominal sternites 5; immovably joined 0, or 2. Abdominal segment 8 apparently without functional spiracles.
Habitat, ecology. Land-dwellers; predacious, or not predacious (?); in living vegetation (in hedges, or in moss), or under bark.
Larvae. Larvae predacious, or not predacious (?); on living vegetation (in moss), or in or under bark.
Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Superfamily Cucujoidea.
British representation. Genera 5; 10 species. E.g., Rabocerus foveolatus, Vincenzellus viridipennis.
Illustrations. • Rabocerus foveolatus (Janson 225). • Vincenzellus ruficollis (Rye & Fowler XI3).
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’.
