Saturday, January 06, 2007

Fungus Rove Beetle




Oxyporus quinquemaculatus
Algonquin Provincial Park (Bat Lake)
25 June, 2006

These beetles are from the family Staphylinidae (Rove Beetles), subfamily Oxyporinae, genus Oxyporus. Stephen Marshall indicates that the family Staphylinidae "constitutes one of the last great frontiers in North American beetle taxonomy." Staphylinidae is the largest family of beetles in North America and it is possible that less than half of the species have been identified yet. Marshall says that "Rove beetles are usually predacious, but some feed on fungal spores or tissue..." If you look at the first picture, above, you can see that these beetles have been doing a pretty good job of eating this Entoloma fungus.

No comments: