Zopheridae

Pristoderus antarcticus, copyright Udo Schmidt.

Belongs within: Tenebrionoidea.

The Zopheridae, ironclad beetles, are a group of beetles usually found living under bark of dead or dying trees. Most feed on decaying plant tissue or fungi but species of the genus Nematidium are predators of the larvae of wood-boring weevils (Bouchard 2014).

Characters (from Ironclad ID): Antenna 9–11 segmented with a usually abrupt, 1–3 segmented club; antennal insertions concealed from above; mesocoxal cavities closed; trochanters heteromeroid; tarsal formula 4-4-4 or 5-5-4; male genitalia with tenebrionoid aedeagus.

Zopheridae B14
    |--Zopherinae B14
    |    |--Usechini B14
    |    |    |--Usechus B14
    |    |    `--Usechimorpha B14
    |    |         |--U. barberi B14
    |    |         `--U. montanus Doyen & Lawrence 1979 B14
    |    `--Zopherini B14
    |         |--Zopherus chilensis Gray 1832 B14
    |         |--Zopher B14
    |         |--Zopherosis georgii White 1859 B14, M86
    |         `--Scoriaderma B14
    `--Colydiinae [Colydiidae] B14
         |  i. s.: Enarsus WH02
         |         Ditoma crenata C01 [=Colydium (Didoma) crenatum G20]
         |         Rhopalocerus LB91
         |         Sparactus elongatus LB91
         |         Pseudendestes LB91
         |           |--P. australis LB91
         |           `--P. robertsi LB91
         |         Todima LB91
         |         Ablabus LB91
         |         Dryptops LB91
         |         Nematidium [Nematidiini] B14
         |           `--N. filiforme LeConte 1863 B14
         |         Monoedus [incl. Adimerus] RD77
         |         Colydium elongatum G20
         |--Phellopsis MW15
         `--+--Pycnomerus helmsi MW15, H15
            `--Synchitini B14
                 |--Syncalus B14
                 |--Isotarphius B14
                 `--Pristoderus MW15
                      |--P. antarcticus (White 1846) B14
                      |--P. plagiatus (Broun 1911) E02
                      `--P. saccharatus (Pascoe 1870) [=Byrsax saccharatus] MB08

Zopheridae incertae sedis:
  Notocoxelus E02
  Heterargus ED04
  Cotulades LB91
    |--C. fascicularis Pascoe 1860 M86
    |--C. funerosa Hope 1845 M86
    `--C. leucospila Hope 1845 M86
  Latometus pubescens Erichs. 1842 LB91, M86
  Docalis LB91
    |--D. degener Pascoe 1860 M86
    `--D. exoletus Pascoe 1860 M86

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

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

[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.

[ED04] Ewers, R. M., & R. K. Didham. 2004. A first assessment of New Zealand beetles restricted to large forest areas. Weta 27: 33–40.

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

[H15] Hedley, C. 1915. Presidential address. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 49 (1): 1–77, pls 1–7.

[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).

[M86] 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.

[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.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[WH02] Worthy, T. H., & R. N. Holdaway. 2002. The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press: Bloomington (Indiana).

Last updated: 12 November 2020.