The family Pythidae is a small group of
tenebrionoid 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 ...
s with no vernacular common name, though recent authors have coined the name dead log bark beetles. There are seven genera, which are largely native to the mid-high latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere and Australia, with one genus also present in the tropical Americas. The larvae are generally found with decaying vegetation and wood on which they feed, while adults are not associated with the larvae and are generally caught using
malaise traps and
light traps.
[Pollock, Darren A.. "11.23. Pythidae Solier, 1834". ''Volume 2 Morphology and Systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim)'', edited by Willy Kükenthal, Richard A.B. Leschen, Rolf G. Beutel and John F. Lawrence, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 2011, pp. 708-715. ]
Genera
These genera belong to the family Pythidae
* ''
Anaplopus''
Blackburn, 1890 Australia
* ''
Ischyomius''
Chevrolat, 1878 g Central America and Northern South America
* ''
Osphyoplesius''
Winkler, 1915 g Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
Th ...
* ''
Priognathus''
LeConte, 1850 i c g b North America
* ''
Pytho''
Latreille, 1796 i c g b 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 ...
* ''
Sphalma''
Horn, 1872 i c g b Western North America
* ''
Trimitomerus''
Horn, 1888 i c g b North America
Data sources: i = ITIS,[ c = Catalogue of Life,][ g = GBIF,][ b = Bugguide.net]
References
*Gustafsson, B. Catalogus Coleopterorum Sueciae (2004), Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Stockholm.
Further reading
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External links
Pythidaeat
Fauna Europaea
Tenebrionoidea
Beetle families
{{Tenebrionoidea-stub