Stelidota octomaculata (Say)

Ferro, Michael L., Gimmel, Matthew L., Harms, Kyle E. & Carlton, Christopher E., 2012, Comparison of the Coleoptera communities in leaf litter and rotten wood in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA, Insecta Mundi 2012 (259), pp. 1-58 : 18

Stelidota octomaculata (Say) ( Fig. 23 )

Range: eastern North America, west to Ontario and Arizona. Habitat: sap in spring, fungi, rotten fruit, acorns and seeds of numerous tree species (see Galford et al. 1991). Collection Method: hand collection, under bark, sifting/Berlese forest litter, pitfall traps. Biology: feeds on acorns in winter, overwinters as an adult, begins breeding March to May, Galford et al. (1991) reared this species from seeds of 40 plant species. Present Study: significantly higher abundance in leaf litter and secondary forest, indifferent to season. References: Blatchley 1910; Parsons 1943; Peng et al. 1990 (key to im- matures); Galford et al. 1991 (life history); Downie and Arnett 1996; Peck and Thomas 1998.

Figures

Figures 19–24. Habitus images. 19) Catopocerus sp. (female) (Leiodidae: Catopocerinae). 20) Ptomaphagus appalachianus (Peck) (Leiodidae: Cholevinae). 21) Ptomaphagus sp. (female) (Leiodidae: Cholevinae). 22) Agathidium sp. (female) (Leiodidae: Leiodinae). 23) Stelidota octomaculata (Say) (Nitidulidae: Nitidulinae). 24) Acrotrichis sp. (Ptiliidae: Acrotrichinae).