Derodontidae

Derodontus maculatus, copyright Bonnie Ott.

Belongs within: Scirtoidea.

The Derodontidae are a group of small beetles with paired ocelli that feed on fungi. Members of the genus Peltastica, found in northeastern Asia and North America, are distinguished by broadly flattened and explanate sides on the prothorax (Bouchard 2014).

Characters (from Lawrence & Britton 1991): Head with paired ocelli and series of canals and bridges; antenna eleven-segmented with three-segmented club; pronotum divided into several cells by longitudinal ridges and transverse elevations; elytra with number of deep pits at bases of striae; fore coxae projecting, trochantins concealed, fore coxal cavities externally closed, internally open; mid coxal cavities narrowly separated, partly closed laterally by metepisterna; metasternum with transverse suture; tarsi pentamerous; hind coxal plates well developed; abdomen with five ventrites, none connate, a pair of longitudinal carinae near middle of ventrite I. Larva elongate, slightly tapered posteriorly, with dorsal surfaces granulate, tuberculate and usually with paired processes on all segments except 10th, which is cylindrical and posteroventrally oriented. Head transverse, with no epicranial stem and contiguous frontal arms, and spiracles borne on tubular processes.

Derodontidae B14
    |  i. s.: Peltastica [Peltasticinae] B14
    |           |--P. amurensis Reitter 1879 B14
    |           `--P. tuberculata B14
    |--Laricobius Rosenhauer 1846 MW15, JH01
    |    |--L. loebli Jelínek & Háva 2001 JH01
    |    |--L. mirabilis Háva & Jelínek 1999 JH01
    |    `--L. schawalleri Háva & Jelínek 2000 JH01
    `--+--Nothoderodontus MW15
       |    |--N. darlingtoni LB91
       |    `--N. gourlayi LB91
       `--Derodontus [Derodontinae] MW15
            |--D. esotericus B14
            |--D. japonicus B14
            |--D. macularis (Fuss 1850) B14
            |--D. maculatus B14
            `--D. trisignatus 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).

[JH01] Jelínek, J., & J. Háva. 2001. A new species of Laricobius (Coleoptera: Derodontidae) from Nepal. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 108 (1): 149–152.

[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).

[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: 16 December 2020.