LIBRARY

COLEOPTERA 575
There are only about 60 species, some of which have been widely distributed
by commerce. The important genera are Lyctus Fab. (cosmopolitan). Minthea
Pasco (Holarctic), Luctoxylon Reitter (Japanese, North American), Trogoxylon
LeConte (Nearctic and Neotropical). Lyctus is the largest and most important
genus, with 13 North American, one European, and three Australian species.
The most important are L. brunneus (Stephens) and L. linearis (Goeze), both
cosmopolitan; L. cavicollis Lec. and L. planicollis Lee., both American. All are
injurious to hardwoods and manufactured articles of the same. The first is also
a pest of bamboo.
Family BOSTRICHIDlE (Leach 1815, 1817) (Bos-trich'i-dre, from the Greek
(:J6UTPUKOS, the name used by Aristotle for a winged insect; the male of
the glowworm). Bostrichids, Branch and Limb Borers.
Small to large beetles usually elongated and cylindrical in form; smooth, rugose,
sculptured or hairy, somber dark reddish-brown or blackish. Head hypog-
FIG. 195. The California palm borer. Dinapate wrighti Horn. one of the largelJt known bostrychid
beetles.
nathous and invisible from above. Antennre short, arising in front of the eyes,
ll-segmented with three-segmented club. Pronotum hood-shaped, smooth, rugose,
or tuberculate. Legs short; fore coxre large, contiguous; tibial spurs present;
tarsi five-segmented, first segment very small and almost invisible, second
and fifth segments long. Elytra smooth or sculptured; posterior margins may
be sloped and toothed. Abdomen with five sterna visible, the first much the
longest. Larva: scarabreoid, curved; head small; thorax greatly developed;
blind; antennre four-segmented, with first long; legs well developed. The larvre
of these beetles feed largely in dead wood and may be injurious to furniture and
building materials. The adults of certain species feed upon living branches as
well as boring into dead wood for oviposition. They are also attracted to wine
barrels and casks and to the corks in bottles containing alcoholic liquids.
The family is a small one of some 400 species widely distributed. The important
genera are: Amphicerus LeConte, Bostrichus Geoffroy. Dinapate Horn,