''Microsternus tricolor'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of pleasing fungus beetle in the family Erotylidae. It is endemic to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The species' name comes from Greek and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, "tricolor" meaning "three colors".

Description

''Microsternus tricolor'' are 3 to 5 mm long and 1.4 to 2.4 mm wide. It has three colors as the name suggests, those being red, orange/yellow and black. These beetles have a punctured, close pronotum and orange and black bands of elytra.

Taxonomy and systematics

''Microsternus tricolor'' was discovered by Lewis in 1887.

References

Beetles described in 1887 Insects of China Insects of Taiwan Insects of Russia Insects of Japan Erotylidae {{erotylidae-stub