The beaver beetle (''Platypsyllus castoris'') is an
ectoparasitic beetle
Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
that is only found on its host species,
beaver
Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...
s, and the sole member of the genus ''Platypsyllus''. It is flattened and eyeless, resembling a flea or tick. It used to be placed in a separate family called Leptinidae, but is now placed in the family
Leiodidae, in the subfamily
Platypsyllinae.
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Description
The beaver beetle has various modifications to suit its ectoparasitic mode of life. It resembles a flea
Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...
or a louse
Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order (biology), order, until a 2021 genetic stud ...
in appearance and the family Platypsyllidae was originally placed in the flea order Siphonaptera, and one taxonomist treated it as a unique example of a new order of insects.host
A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it.
Host may also refer to:
Places
* Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County
* Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica
People
* ...
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Distribution
The beetle exists only in the northern hemisphere (holarctic
The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...
) and is restricted to areas in which beavers are found, North America and northern Europe and Asia.
Behaviour
Besides the North American beaver
The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two Extant taxon, extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and has been introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe ...
(''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver
The Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber'') or European beaver is a species of beaver widespread across Eurasia, with a rapidly increasing population of at least 1.5 million in 2020. The Eurasian beaver was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur ...
(''Castor fiber''), the only other host on which this beetle has been found is the North American river otter
The North American river otter (''Lontra canadensis''), also known as the northern river otter and river otter, is a semiaquatic mammal that endemism, lives only on the North American continent throughout most of Canada, along the coasts of the U ...
(''Lontra canadensis''), and this was only on one occasion. It is hypothesized that the otter may have picked up the parasite when it entered a beaver lodge or perhaps killed a young beaver, a thing that otters are believed to do on occasion. Both adult beetles and larvae feed on epidermal tissue, and also perhaps on skin secretions and liquids oozing from wounds. It is possible that the larvae may also act as scavenger
Scavengers are animals that consume Corpse decomposition, dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a he ...
s in the beaver lodge.
References
*
External links
Beaver Beetles
by David Moskowitz
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2064126
Parasitic insects
Wingless beetles
Leiodidae
Beetles described in 1869