Corylophidae

Sericoderus lateralis, copyright Udo Schmidt.

Belongs within: Coccinelloidea.

The Corylophidae are a group of minute beetles that usually have the head concealed beneath the prothorax. Members of the subfamily Corylophinae are glabrous whereas Saciinae and Sericoderinae are usually pubescent (Lawrence & Britton 1991).

Characters (from Lawrence & Britton 1991): Minute, oblong to broadly ovate and strongly convex to somewhat flattened beetles (rarely more elongate and flattened), with small head usually concealed beneath prothorax; antenna relatively long, eight- to eleven-segmented, with large three- or five-segmented club; elytra sometimes truncate, exposing abdominal apex; fore coxae transverse or globular, trochantins concealed, fore coxal cavities externally open or closed, internally closed; mid coxal cavities moderately to widely separated, laterally open or closed; tarsi tetramerous or pseudotrimerous; abdomen with five or six sternites, none connate. Larva oblong to broadly ovate, more or less flattened, clothed with variously modified setae, with paired glandular openings on abdominal segments 1 to 7 or 1 and 8; antennae moderately to very long; head transverse to somewhat elongate; mouth-parts sometimes stylet-like and endognathous; tarsungular seta usually clavate.

<==Corylophidae [Orthoperidae]
    |  i. s.: Teplinus BB01
    |         Clypeaster pulchella B70
    |--Alloparmulus [Saciinae] LB91
    |    `--A. pulchellus LB91
    |--Sericoderinae LB91
    |    |--Anisomeristes LB91
    |    |    |--A. apicalis M83
    |    |    `--A. thoracicus M83
    |    `--Sericoderus B02
    |         |--S. apicalis Lea 1895 B02
    |         |--S. brevicornis Matthews 1890 [incl. S. coatesi Lea 1895] B02
    |         `--S. lateralis B02
    `--Corylophinae BB01
         |  i. s.: Lewisium LB91
         |         Priamima LB91
         |         Corylophus [Corylophini] BB01
         |         Corylophodes [Corylophodini] LB91
         |         Rypobiini LB91
         |         Cleidostethus Arrow 1929 [Cleidostethini] BB01
         |           `--*C. meliponae Arrow 1929 BB01
         |--Periptyctus [Periptyctinae] MW15
         |    |--P. russulus B14
         |    `--P. victoriensis Tomaszewska & Ślipiński 2002 B14
         `--+--Holopsis MW15
            `--+--Orthoperus [Orthoperini] MW15
               `--Parmulini B14
                    |--Arthrolips decolor (LeConte 1852) BB01, B14
                    `--Clypastraea B14

*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).

[B02] Bowestead, S. 2002. Sericoderus brevicornis Matthews (Coleoptera: Corylophidae) redescribed and new to New Zealand. New Zealand Entomologist 25: 65–67.

[BB01] Bowestead, S., R. G. Booth, A. Silpinski & J. F. Lawrence. 2001. The genus Cleidostethus Arrow, 1929 reappraisal and transfer from Coccinellidae to Corylophidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea). Annales Zoologici 51 (3): 319–323.

[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.

[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).

[M83] Martin, N. A. 1983. Miscellaneous observations on a pasture fauna: an annotated species list. DSIR Entomology Division Report 3: 1–98.

[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.

Last updated: 30 November 2020.