Nitidulidae

Dried-fruit beetle Carpophilus hemipterus, copyright Udo Schmidt.

Belongs within: Cucujoidea.
Contains: Kateretidae.

The Nitidulidae are a morphologically and ecologically diverse group of small beetles, many of which feed on fungi but which may also feed on live or decaying vegetation. Species of Carpophilus feed on ripe or rotting fruits and may be a pest in food stores or orchards (Lawrence & Britton 1991).

Characters (from Lawrence & Britton 1991): Usually oblong to ovate, less commonly elongate and parallel-sided, strongly convex to flattened, usually brown or black, occasionally bicoloured, glabrous or pubescent. Antenna 11-segmented, with three-segmented club, club almost always distinct; head usually abruptly constricted at base of clypeus; frontoclypeal suture almost always absent; labrum often emarginate or bilobed (sometimes concealed); maxilla almost always without galea, palp not expanded apically; fore coxae transverse, trochantins exposed, fore coxal cavities externally open or closed, internally closed; mid coxal cavities contiguous or narrowly separated, laterally open; hind coxae well separated; tibiae often expanded and serrate or spinose; tarsi pentamerous or tetramerous, first four tarsal segments often with expanded setose lobes; elytra complete or truncate, exposing one to several abdominal tergites; abdomen with five or six ventrites, none connate. Larvae oblong to elongate and subcylindrical to flattened, dorsal surfaces often granulate or tuberculate, urogomphi (if present) often accompanied by second pair of projections (pregomphi); mandibles usually bearing complex prostheca with fringes of comb-hairs; spiracles often located at ends of tubular processes.

<==Nitidulidae
    |--+--Kateretidae MW15
    |  `--Glischrochilus obtusus (Say 1835) MW15, F91
    `--+--+--Stelidota remilleti MW15, S00
       |  `--Brachypeplus planus MW15, LB91
       `--Carpophilus [Carpophilinae] MW15
            |--C. aterrimus B70
            |--C. davidsoni LB91
            |--C. dimidiatus LB91
            |--C. fumatus S00
            |--C. hemipterus LB91
            |--C. immaculatus Lucas 1847 E12
            |--C. mutilatus G89
            `--C. notatus S00

Nitidulidae incertae sedis:
  Amphotis A71
  Nitidulina GE05
  Pria AY04
  Eupetinus O94
  Nesopeplus O94
  Nesopetinus O94
  Platamartus jakowlewi C01
  Epuraea E02
    |--E. florea C01
    |--E. imperialis Reitter 1877 E02
    `--E. nigrita Lucas 1846 E12
  Cychramptodes murrayi LB91
  Idaethina pilistriata LB91
  Notobrachypterus LB91
  Thalycrodes LB91
  Lasiodactylus LB91
  Platychoropsis LB91
  Aethina tumida LB91, B14
  Cychramus LB91
  Pallodes LB91
  Testudorea LB91
  Amphicrossus LB91
  Urophorus humeralis LB91
  Cillaeinae LB91
  Cryptarchinae B14
    |--Lioschema xacarilla (Thomson 1856) B14
    |--Paromia B14
    `--Cryptarcha LB91
  Nitidulinae B14
    |--Pocadius nobilis Reitter 1873 B14
    |--Cychrocephalus [Mystropini] B14
    |    |--C. corvinus Reitter 1873 B14
    |    `--C. luctuosus B14
    `--Nitidula L02
         |  i. s.: N. fusula C01
         |--N. (Nitidula) bipustulata G20
         `--N. (Cercus Latreille 1802) G20, L02
              |--N. (*C.) pedicularius (Linnaeus 1758) G20, L02, L58 (see below for synonymy)
              |--‘Cercus’ barbarus Lucas 1846 E12
              `--‘Cercus’ bicolor Lucas 1846 E12
  Meligethes B88 [Meligethinae LB91]
    |--M. aeneus [incl. M. cleonimis, M. dauricus, M. rufimanus] HW96
    |--M. atratus HW96
    |--M. canadensis HW96
    |--M. coracinus C01
    |--M. czwalinai HW96
    |--M. erythropus C01
    |--M. hebes C01
    |--M. lepidii C01
    |--M. nanus C01
    |--M. nigrescens HW96
    |--M. pinguis HW96
    |--M. saevus HW96
    |--M. simplipes HW96
    |--M. symphyti C01
    |--M. umbrosus C01
    |--M. viduatus C01
    `--M. viridescens HW96
  ‘Pterohelaeus’ nitiduloides Carter 1908 MB08
  Ithyphenes cucujiformis M86
  Circopes pilistriatus B70
  Sinonitidulina luanpingensis RJ93

Nitidula (*Cercus) pedicularius (Linnaeus 1758) G20, L02, L58 [=Byturus pedicularius L02, Dermestes pedicularius L02]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A71] Askew, R. R. 1971. Parasitic Insects. Heinemann Educational Books: London.

[AY04] Austin, A. D., D. K. Yeates, G. Cassis, M. J. Fletcher, J. La Salle, J. F. Lawrence, P. B. McQuillan, L. A. Mound, D. J. Bickel, P. J. Gullan, D. F. Hales & G. S. Taylor. 2004. Insects ‘Down Under’—diversity, endemism and evolution of the Australian insect fauna: examples from select orders. Australian Journal of Entomology 43 (3): 216–234.

[B88] Bouček, Z. 1988. Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera): A biosystematic revision of genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species. CAB International: Wallingford (UK).

[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.

[C01] Csiki, E. 1901. Bogarak [Coleopteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 75–120. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[E02] Emberson, R. M. 2002. The beetle (Coleoptera) fauna of the Chatham Islands: additions and corrections. New Zealand Entomologist 25: 69–77.

[E12] Evenhuis, N. L. 2012. Publication and dating of the Exploration Scientifique de l’Algérie: Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Articulés (1846–1849) by Pierre Hippolyte Lucas. Zootaxa 3448: 1–61.

[F91] Fashing, N. J. 1991. Deutonymphal dimorphism in the genus Hericia (Astigmata: Algophagidae). In: Dusbábek, F., & V. Bukva (eds) Modern Acarology: Proceedings of the VIII International Congress of Acarology, held in České Budĕjovice, Czechoslovakia, 6–11 August 1990 vol. 2 pp. 287–291. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[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.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[HW96] Hoebeke, E. R., & A. G. Wheeler, Jr. 1996. Meligethes viridescens (F.) (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) in Maine, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island: diagnosis, distribution, and bionomics of a Palearctic species new to North America. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 98 (2): 221–227.

[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).

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[M86] 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.

[MB08] Matthews, E. G., & P. Bouchard. 2008. Tenebrionid Beetles of Australia: Descriptions of tribes, keys to genera, catalogue of species. Australian Biological Resources Study: Canberra.

[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.

[O94] Otte, D. 1994. The Crickets of Hawaii: origin, systematics and evolution. The Orthopterists’ Society: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[S00] Siddiqi, M. R. 2000. Tylenchida: Parasites of plants and insects 2^nd ed. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

Last updated: 30 November 2020.