Cleridae

Lasiodera rufipes, from Opitz (2019).

Belongs within: Cleroidea.
Contains: Lemidia, Stigmatium, Eleale, Opilo, Aulicus, Tillinae, Clerinae, Necrobia.

The Cleridae, checkered beetles, are a family of elongate, hairy beetles, some if which are brightly coloured. Most clerids are predatory on other insects both as adults and larvae. Members of the family have five-segmented tarsi but the fourth tarsomere is concealed within the third in the Korynetinae. The Hydnocerinae are characterised by enormous eyes and short antennae that are not long enough to reach the base of the pronotum.

Characters (from Lawrence & Britton 1991): Elongate, parallel-sided, clothed with erect, or erect and decumbent, hairs, often either metallic in colour or patterned with red or yellow. Head usually more or less deflexed; eyes usually slightly to strongly emarginate; antennae short; labial palps often enlarged and securiform; pronotum usually without lateral carinae; prosternum well developed in front of coxae; tarsi with one or more segments lobed or with membranous appendages; first tarsal segment sometimes reduced and concealed within tibial apex. Larvae elongate, cylindrical to somewhat flattened, lightly sclerotised except for head, one or more tergal plates on thorax and T9 but cuticle often pigmented with yellow, pink, blue or brown. Head well sclerotised dorsally and ventrally; gula long and narrow; mandible with hyaline process at base; epicranial stem usually absent, median endocarina usually present.

Cleridae [Clerii]
    |--+--Tillinae MW15
    |  `--Clerinae MW15
    `--Korynetinae B14
         |--Pelonium leucophaeum (Klug 1842) B14
         |--Necrobia MW15
         |--Corynetes Mas86
         |    |--C. rufipes [=Anobium rufipes; incl. C. australis] B35
         |    `--C. unicolor Chev. 1878 Mas86
         |--Chariessa B14
         |    |--C. dichroa B14
         |    `--C. elegans Horn 1870 B14
         `--Lasiodera B14
              |--L. rufipes (Klug 1842) [=Enoplium rufipes] B14
              `--L. zonata B14

Cleridae incertae sedis:
  Lemidia LB91
  Phlogistomorpha YHT05
  Phloiocopus tricolor G89
  Tarsobaenus letourneauae DL99
  Phlogistus eximius B70
  Stigmatium ZS10
  Eurymetopum MC94
    |--E. maculatum MC94
    `--E. modestum MC94
  Eleale YHT05
  Allelidea MC13
    |--A. brevipennis Pascoe 1860 Mas86
    `--A. ctenostomoides Waterh. 1836 Mas86
  Opilo Mas86
  Monophylla LB91
  Scrobiger LB91
    |--S. albocinctus Pascoe 1860 Mas86
    |--S. idoneus Newm. 1842 Mas86
    `--S. splendidus Newm. 1840 [incl. S. reichei] Mas86
  Tarsosteninae LB91
    |--Paratillus LB91
    |    |--P. basalis Gorham 1878 Mas86
    |    `--P. carus (Newm. 1840) [=Clerus carus] Mas86
    `--Tarsostenus LB91
         |--T. mastersi Macleay 1872 Mas86
         |--T. pulcher Macleay 1872 Mas86
         |--T. univittatus LB91
         `--T. zonatus Mas86
  Hydnocerinae B14
    |--Hydnocera G01
    |    |--H. bella Westw. 1852 Mas86
    |    `--H. punctipennis G01
    `--Phyllobaenus B14
         |--P. pallipennis (Say 1825) B14
         `--P. verticalis B14
  Enoplium serraticorne [=Tillus serraticornis] L02
  Omadius Mac86
    |--O. olivaceus Westw. 1852 Mas86
    `--O. prasinus Westw. 1852 Mas86
  Natalis Mas86
    |--N. cribricollis Mas86
    |--N. mastersi Macleay 1872 Mas86
    |--N. porcata [incl. N. heros] Mas86
    `--N. titana Thoms. 1860 Mas86
  Orthrius cylindricus Gorham 1876 Mas86
  Cleromorpha novenguttatus (Westw. 1852) [=Clerus novemguttatus] Mas86
  Aulicus Mas86
  Olesterus Mas86
    |--O. australis Mas86
    |--O. cruentatus Chev. 1874 Mas86
    `--O. gracilis Gorham 1876 Mas86
  Eburiphora patricia Mas86
  Tenerus Mas86
    |--T. abbreviatus White 1849 Mas86
    |--T. ruficollis Macleay 1872 Mas86
    `--T. telephroides Pascoe 1860 Mas86
  Pylus Mas86
    |--P. anthicoides Newm. 1842 Mas86
    |--P. bicinctus Newm. 1842 Mas86
    |--P. fatuus [incl. P. ochropus, P. passerinii] Mas86
    `--P. pallipes Macleay 1872 Mas86
  Tanocleria Hong 2002 H02
    `--*T. tenuis Hong 2002 H02
  Lissaulicus laevis G01
  Neohydnus G01
  Mastigus G20
    |--M. palpalis L02
    `--M. spinicornis [=Ptinus spinicornis] L02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B35] Boisduval, J. B. 1835. Voyage de Découvertes de l’Astrolabe. Exécuté par ordre du Roi, pendant les années 1826–1827–1828–1829, sous le commandement de M. J. Dumont d'Urville. Faune entomologique de l'océan Pacifique, avec l'illustration des insectes nouveaux recueillis pendant le voyage vol. 2. Coléoptères et autres ordres. J. Tastu: Paris.

[B14] Bouchard, P. (ed.) 2014. The Book of Beetles: A lifesize guide to six hundred of nature's gems. Ivy Press: Lewes (United Kingdom).

[B70] Britton, E. B. 1970. Coleoptera (beetles). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 495–621. Melbourne University Press.

[DL99] Dyer, L. A., & D. K. Letourneau. 1999. Relative strengths of top-down and bottom-up forces in a tropical forest community. Oecologia 119: 265–274.

[G89] Gestro, R. 1889. Viaggio ab Assab nel Mar Rosso dei signori G. Doria ed O. Beccari con il R. Avviso «Esploratore» dal 16 Novembre 1879 al 26 Febbraio 1880.—IV. Coleotteri. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a, 7: 5–72.

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[G01] Gorham, H. S. 1901. Descriptions of genera and species of Coleoptera from South Africa (continued). Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 7: 349–365.

[H02] Hong Y. 2002. Amber Insect of China. Beijing Scientific and Technological Publishing House.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[LB91] Lawrence, J. F., & E. B. Britton. 1991. Coleoptera (beetles). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 543–683. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[Mac86] Macleay, W. 1886. The insects of the Fly River, New Guinea, "Coleoptera". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (1): 136–157.

[MC13] Majer, J. D., S. K. Callan, K. Edwards, N. R. Gunawardene & C. K. Taylor. 2013. Baseline survey of the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 83: 13–112.

[Mas86] Masters, G. 1886. Catalogue of the described Coleoptera of Australia. Part IV. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (2): 259–380.

[MW15] McKenna, D. D., A. L. Wild, K. Kanda, C. L. Bellamy, R. G. Beutel, M. S. Caterino, C. W. Farnum, D. C. Hawks, M. A. Ivie, M. L. Jameson, R. A. B. Leschen, A. E. Marvaldi, J. V. McHugh, A. F. Newton, J. A. Robertson, M. K. Thayer, M. F. Whiting, J. F. Lawrence, A. Ślipiński, D. R. Maddison & B. D. Farrell. 2015. The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end-Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. Systematic Entomology 40 (4): 835–880.

[MC94] Morrone, J. J., & J. M. Carpenter. 1994. In search of a method for cladistic biogeography: an empirical comparison of component analysis, Brooks parsimony analysis, and three-area statements. Cladistics 10: 99–153.

[YHT05] Yates, C. J., S. D. Hopper & R. H. Taplin. 2005. Native insect flower visitor diversity and feral honeybees on jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) in Kings Park, an urban bushland remnant. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 88 (4): 147–153.

[ZS10] Zborowski, P., & R. Storey. 2010. A Field Guide to Insects in Australia 3^rd ed. Reed New Holland: Sydney.

Last updated: 12 November 2020.