Papua Insects Foundation (Coleoptera/Endomychidae)

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The Handsome Fungus Beetles (Coleoptera: Endomychidae) of Papua Indonesia

by Floyd W. Shockley

Introduction

Endomychidae, commonly known as the Handsome Fungus Beetles, is a moderately speciose family of mycophagous beetles within the Cerylonid Series of the superfamily Cucujoidea (Crowson 1955), with 130 genera and 1782 species and subspecies (Shockley et al. 2009a). Endomychidae as a family is distributed worldwide, occurring in all major biogeographical regions; however, the group is predominantly tropical with highest diversity in the Neotropics, equatorial Africa and southeast Asia. The family Endomychidae is currently arranged into 12 subfamilies (sensu Tomaszewska 2000): Anamorphinae (=Mycotheninae), Danascelinae, Endomychinae, Epipocinae, Eupsilobiinae (=Eidoreinae, Cerasommatidiidae), Leiestinae, Lycoperdininae (=Eumorphinae), Merophysiinae (=Holoparamecinae), Mycetaeinae (=Agaricophilinae), Pleganophorinae (=Trochoideinae), Stenotarsinae and Xenomycetinae.

The vast majority of taxa feed on the fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi, although there are representatives who specialize on softer agarics, molds, spores, and even several taxa which have been found to be facultatively phytophagous or predaceous. They rarely come to light traps and are most often collected directly from the surface of their host fungi. However, they can also be found in pitfall traps, flight intercept traps or beating/sweeping vegetation in close proximity to their hosts as they often rest on nearby foliage during the day. There are several species which have become stored product pests, and a number of taxa are inquilines of social insects, particularly from the subfamily Merophysiinae. A number of species appear to be involved in mimicry complexes with taxa from other beetle families such as Chrysomelidae, Coccinellidae, Erotylidae and Tenebrionidae, many of which are chemically defended. However, since these endomychids also tend to be chemically defended, it is unclear which is the model and which is the mimic in these Müllerian systems.

Adults of the family vary widely in size (ranging from 1-18 mm), morphology, and habits, particularly at the subfamilial and generic levels. Adults may be oval to elongate-oval and strongly convex to slightly flattened in habitus. Vestiture may be present or absent, but when present setae are typically recumbent to suberect. Because of this heterogeneity, it is difficult to generalize the adult morphology to make it applicable across the family.

All of the subfamilies exhibit interesting biogeographic distributional patterns. Some are cosmopolitan with genera extending over huge geographic ranges, while others are almost exclusively endemic to small, isolated regions.

Listed New Guinea species: 71 [53 endemic for New Guinea]

The Endomychidae are in New Guinea represented by the following subfamilies: Anamorphinae, Lycoperdininae, Pleganophorinae and Stenotarsinae .

(For practical reasons all New Guinea species are listed. As soon as more distributional information comes available the list will be restricted to real Papua species).

Thumbnail gallery

Coryphus Csiki, 1902

biroi Csiki, 1902 [endemic]

clavatus Strohecker, 1979 [endemic]

irianus Strohecker, 1979 [endemic]

niger Strohecker, 1979 [endemic]

Idiophyes Blackburn, 1895

novabritanniae Strohecker, 1981

Papuella Strohecker, 1956

birolecta Strohecker, 1956 [endemic]

Ancylopus Costa, 1850

glaberrimus Strohecker, 1972 [endemic]

pictus (Wiedemann, 1823)
ssp. papuanus Strohecker, 1972

Beccariola Arrow, 1943

confusa Strohecker, 1970 [endemic]

major Strohecker, 1970 [endemic]

papuensis (Gorham, 1885) [endemic]

petiginosa Strohecker, 1970

selene Strohecker, 1970 [endemic]

wallacei (Gorham, 1897)

Encymon Gerstaecker, 1857

bipustulatus Gorham, 1873
erimae Csiki, 1900

gorhami Csiki, 1901 [endemic]
immaculatus Gorham, 1885
femoratus Csiki, 1902
globosus Arrow, 1943

immaculatus (Montruzier, 1855)
immaculatus Guérin-Méneville, 1858
gerstaeckeri Dohrn, 1863
ruficollis Gemminger & Harold, 1876
angulatus Gorham, 1873
clavicornis Blackburn, 1890
australasiae Csiki, 1902
limbatus Pic, 1931
rufofemoratus Csiki, 1902

nigricollis Csiki, 1902 [endemic]

papuanus Csiki, 1902 [endemic]

ruficollis Gorham, 1885
intermedius Arrow, 1943
latipennis Arrow, 1943
maderi Strohecker, 1953

schwarzbaueri Mader, 1936

Eumorphus Weber, 1801

marginatus Fabricius, 1801

quadriguttatus (Illiger, 1800)
ssp. quadriguttatus (Illiger, 1800)
sumatrae Weber, 1801
immarginatus Fabricius, 1801
laevis Gorham, 1874

Gerstaeckerus Tomaszewska, 2005

perspicillaris (Gerstaecker, 1857)

Indalmus Gerstaecker, 1858

lineellus (Chapuis, 1876)

Trochoideus Westwood, 1833

desjardinsi Guérin-Méneville, 1838

amphora Cantor, 1846
termitophilus Roepke, 1919
rouyeri Pic, 1922
particularis Pic, 1922
monstrosus Schulze, 1916

Chondria Gorham, 1887

agilis Arrow, 1943

armipes Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

auritarsis Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

brevior Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

furva Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

longipes Arrow, 1943

montislinae Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

nigra Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

nigropectus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

pachyceras Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

rhipiphora Strohecker, 1978

rhodura Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

truncata Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

xanthomata Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

Stenotarsus Perty, 1832

abdominalis Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

affinis (Arrow, 1943) [endemic]

albertisii Gorham, 1885

atratus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

atripes Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

biroi Csiki, 1900 [endemic]

bivulnerus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

callistus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

cheesmanae Strohecker, 1978

chrysoceras Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

cingulatus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

discoidalis (Csiki, 1902) [endemic]

ellipticus Strohecker, 1966 [endemic]

flavotestaceus (Csiki, 1900) [endemic]

guttatus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

incertus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

kokodensis Arrow, 1943 [endemic]

longus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

nanus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

nigerrimus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

nigrocyaneus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

obscurus Arrow, 1943 [endemic]

papuensis Strohecker, 1983 [endemic]

perturbans Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

pulcher (Csiki, 1900) [endemic]

pulcherrimus Strohecker, 1983 [endemic]

ruficollis Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

rufipes Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

rufiventris Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

striatus Strohecker, 1978 [endemic]

tympanizans (Arrow, 1943) [endemic]

Checklist last updated on 6th August 2009