Epuraea

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Epuraea
Epuraea aestiva (Linne, 1758) (28983992963).png
Epuraea aestiva
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Family: Nitidulidae
Subfamily: Epuraeinae
Genus: Epuraea
Erichson, 1843
Synonyms
  • Haptoncus Murray, 1864

Epuraea is a genus of sap-feeding beetles in the family Nitidulidae, first described in 1843 by Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson. [1] [2] There are at least 40 described species in Epuraea. [1] [3] Their most notable food source is sap but these beetles also feed on organic matter such as fruits, flowers, fungi, decaying plant tissue, and the tissue of dead animals. [4] Some species occur in bumblebee nests. [5] Epuraea beetles commonly overwinter underneath logs or in soil. [4]

Contents

Description

According to a key to North American nitidulid genera, Epuraea has the following combination of features: head vertical, labrum free, prothorax not margined at base, elytra truncate apically to expose only pygidium (and, at most, the posterior edge of the penultimate abdominal tergite), middle and hind tibiae with two rows of small marginal spines on their outer edges, a tarsal formula of 5-5-5 (meaning each tarsus has five segments), and the first three tarsomeres bilobed. [5]

Epuraea rufa Epuraea rufa P1420029a.jpg
Epuraea rufa

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Epuraea Genus Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "Australian Faunal Directory: Genus Epuraea Erichson, 1843". biodiversity.org.au. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  3. ↑ "Epuraea Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 Jang, Yong Seok; Kim, Dong-Soon (1 January 2014). "The first report on the winter breeding life history of Epuraea domina (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) in a citrus grove in Jeju, Korea" . Crop Protection. 55: 68–73. doi:10.1016/j.cropro.2013.10.008. ISSN   0261-2194.
  5. 1 2 Arnett, Ross H. Jr; Thomas, Michael C.; Skelley, Paul E.; Frank, J. Howard, eds. (19 June 2002), "NITIDULIDAE" , American Beetles, Volume II (0 ed.), CRC Press, pp. 325–329, doi:10.1201/9781420041231-58, ISBN   978-0-429-12771-7 , retrieved 19 June 2023

Further reading


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