Cerylonidae

Cerylon histeroides, copyright Dick Belgers.

Belongs within: Coccinelloidea.

The Cerylonidae are a group of small beetles found under bark of rotten logs and in decaying leaf litter where they probably feed on fungal hyphae and spores (Lawrence & Britton 1991).

Characters (from Lawrence & Britton 1991): Broadly ovate to narrowly elongate, slightly to strongly flattened, red to brown to black in colour (occasionally bicoloured), subglabrous or sparsely clothed with erect hairs. Antenna eight- to eleven-segmented, club almost always one- or two-segmented and compact (exceptionally three-segmented); fore coxae globose, trochantins concealed, fore coxal cavities open or closed internally and externally; mid coxae moderately to widely separated, cavities closed; hind coxae almost always widely separated; tarsi tri- or tetramerous; abdomen with five visible ventrites, all free, femoral lines often present on metasternum and/or ventrite 1. Larva elongate to broadly ovate and disc-like with lateral tergal processes on all thoracic and most abdominal segments and usually with granulate or tuberculate dorsal surface clothed with variously modified setae.

<==Cerylonidae B14
    |  i. s.: Pakalukia napo Ślipiński 1991 B14
    |         Glyptolopus B14
    |         Micruloma [Metaceryloninae] LB91
    |           `--M. minuta LB91
    |--+--Euxestinae LB91
    |  |    |--Protoxestus australicus LB91
    |  |    |--Euxestus LB91
    |  |    `--Hypodacnella LB91
    |  `--+--Xylariophilus [Xylariophilinae] MW15
    |     `--Teredinae LB19
    |          |--Sosylus spectabilis Grouvelle 1914 B14
    |          `--Teredolaemus leae MW15, LB91
    `--+--Ostomopsis MW15
       `--Ceryloninae LB91
            |--Cerylonopsis alienigenus LB91
            |--Cautomus mirabilis LB91
            |--Australiorylon longipilis LB91
            |--Mychocerus LB91
            |--Philothermus MW15
            |--Aculagnathus [Aculagnathidae] B74
            |    `--A. mirabilis B70
            `--Cerylon Latreille 1802 L02
                 |--*C. terebrans [=Lyctus terebrans] L02
                 |--C. alienigerum B70
                 `--C. histeroides [=Cis (Cerylon) histeroides] G20

*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).

[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.

[B74] Britton, E. B. 1974. Coleoptera (beetles). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers. Supplement 1974 pp. 62–89. Melbourne University Press.

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

[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).

[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.