Family PYROCHROIDAE Latreille, 1806

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• Pyrochroides Latreille, 1806.

  Type genus:

   Pyrochroa Geoffroy, 1762.

Introduction

The family Pyrochroidae (cardinal beetles) is relatively small, with about 185 world species, and is predominantly temperate in distribution, with greatest diversity in the northern hemisphere (Lawrence & Slipinski 2013). The beetles are small to medium sized and mostly brightly coloured. They are aposematic, chemically protected and many species appear to be involved in mimicry complexes with unrelated beetles. Known larvae feed on fungoid dead wood or in soil debris.

The Australian fauna includes 18 described species in four endemic genera, all in the subfamily Pilipalpinae (Pollock 1995), which has been considered a valid family (Nikitsky 1986). The species are confined to forests of eastern Australia.

General References

Lawrence, J.F. & Ślipiński, A. 2013. Australian Beetles. Volume 1 : morphology, classification and key. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing 561 pp.

Nikitsky, N. 1986. Semeistvo Pilipalpidae stat. n. (Coleoptera, Heteromera), ego sostav i sistematicheskie svyazi. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal 65: 1178-1189

Pollock, D.A. 1995. Classification, reconstructed phylogeny and geographical history of genera of Pilipalpinae (Coleoptera : Tenebrionoidea : Pyrochroidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 9: 563–708

History of changes