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COLEOPTERA 549
Many forms occur in sandy places and may be taken on the ocean beaches,
along water courses, and in semiarid and arid desert wastes. Some species Jive
under the bark of dead trees and in the burrows of other wood-infesting insects.
preying upon these and other animals which occur there. Others are mynnecophilous
or termitophilous. Still others occur only in the burrows of certain
rodents and land tortoises. When disturbed the adults retract the l1ead and legs
and feign death. In this condition I have seen the wind roll them along over
sandy stretches with considerable violence.
The family js one of the most interesting among beetles and yet one that has
received very little careful attention, so little, in fact, that in a great many
species the sexes have not been separated. Careful work with the genitalia will
soon clear up many problems connected with their classification. The members
are widely distributed over the world and number no less than 3,000 species.
In size they vary from the small black European Acritus nigricornis Hoffman.
0.6-1.0 mm. in length. to the large flat primitive (cosmopolitan) species of
Hololepta Paykull. some of which are as thin as paper and measure from 10-
15 mm. in length. Hisler major Linn., a brilliant black European species, attains
a length of 14 mm.
The genus Saprinus Erickson is the largest and most widely distributed, being
practically cosmopolitan. It has over 100 North American species. Hister Linn.,
a close second, is widely dispersed and has between 90 and 100 species in North
America. The primitive genus Hololepta is known to occur in Europe, Asia. and
North America. Onthophilus Leach, a form with deeply striated or ridged pronotum
and elytra. is Holarctic. Genera common to North America and Europe
are Acritus Lee. (tarsi 5-5-4), Dendrophilus Leach, Paromalus Erickson, Plegaderus
Er., and Hetrerius Er. Some of the important myrmecophilous genera
are Dendrophilus Leach (in part). Hetcerius Er. listed above are generally with
Formica spp. while the Australian Chlamydopsis Westwood and Pheidolephila
Lea. and Terapus Marseul, of North and South America, are usually associated
with Pheldole spp.
Two interesting species are the minute tick-like Sternocelis arachnoides
Fairmaire, brown and but 1 mm. long, of the Mediterranean region, and the
brown long-legged Teratosoma longipes Lewis, 1.5-2.0 mm. long, of Brazil.
The cylindrical African Dolicholister filiformis Bickhardt, 2 mm. long, is a brown
punctate species in which the head and prothorax equal the rest of the body.
Other genera having cylindrical species are Pygocr:elis Lewis, Trypan::eus Eschscholtz.
TrypeNcus Marseul. and Trypobius Schaum.
VI. Superfamily CANTHAROIDEA Reitter 1906
KEY TO IMPORTANT FAMILIES
1. Abdomen with seven or eight visible sternites . 2
Abdomen with six visible stemites 4
2. Middle coxre distinct: epipleura wanting; elytra usually with reticulated
surface; no phosphorescent organs. Largely tropical beetles.