Mycteridae

Adult Mycteridae are difficult to diagnose at the family level due to extreme morphological diversity among the three subfamilies. The subfamilies Mycterinae, Hemipeplinae, and Eurypinae differ substantially in external structure. Identification to subfamily or genus typically requires examination of specific structural features rather than general habitus. Larvae are generally flattened in body form.

Adults are associated with flowering plants and have been collected by hand from flowers, by net sweeping in meadows and steppe vegetation, and occasionally at light. Larvae typically inhabit spaces between leaves or at the bases of fronds. The family includes saproxylic species associated with decaying wood of coniferous and deciduous trees. Specific collection habitats include meadows, oak forest edges, steppe vegetation, xerothermic vegetation, and dirt roads.

Worldwide distribution with representatives in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Documented from: Australia (~20 species); North America (genera *Mycterus*, *Hemipeplus*, *Lacconotus*); Bulgaria (Strandzha Mountains, Lyulin Mountains, Eastern Rhodopes, Middle Danubian Plain, Black Sea Coast, Falakro Mountains); Brazil (Rondônia State, Amazonas, Pará, Chapada); Peru (Loreto Department, Madre de Dios Department); Panama (Colón, Panamá, Chiriquí provinces); Costa Rica (Puntarenas, Guanacaste provinces); Ecuador (Napo, Sucumbíos provinces); Bolivia (Santa Cruz Department); Maritime Provinces of Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island); Ukraine (Volyn Region, fossil record).

Larvae have been observed to consume fungi in their microhabitats between leaves and frond bases. Specific adult feeding habits are not documented.

Larval development occurs in association with decaying wood of coniferous or deciduous tree species, or in spaces between leaves and at frond bases. Adults emerge and are active in association with flowering plants.

Adults are active on flowering plants and are collected by hand from flowers, net sweeping in vegetation, and occasionally occur at light sources. Some species show sympatry with cryptic congeners.

Saproxylic beetles that contribute to decomposition processes in forest ecosystems. The family is part of dead wood-dependent beetle communities affected by forest management practices.

The family is rarely recorded in regional faunas, suggesting it is undercollected or genuinely uncommon. Forest management practices that reduce dead wood availability may negatively impact saproxylic Mycteridae populations.

• SalpingidaeBoth families are small tenebrionoid beetles with saproxylic larvae and are frequently treated together in faunistic surveys; adults differ in structural details of antennae and mouthparts.
• PythidaeShares saproxylic ecology and tenebrionoid affiliation; adults differ in body form and specific structural characters, with Pythidae generally more elongate.
• BoridaeAnother small tenebrionoid family with saproxylic larvae; adults differ in antennal structure and body proportions, often co-occurring in dead wood habitats.

• Coleoptera
• Tenebrionoidea
• saproxylic
• flowers
• worldwide
• cryptic species
• undercollected

• BugGuide
• Wikipedia
• GBIF taxonomy match
• iNaturalist taxon
• NCBI Taxonomy
• Catalogue of Life
• Review of the families Mycteridae, Pythidae and Salpingidae (Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea) of Bulgaria
• On the paratypes and distribution of Hemipeplus quadricollis Pollock, 1999 (Coleoptera: Mycteridae: Hemipeplinae): does it occur in Peru?
• The Mycteridae, Boridae, Pythidae, Pyrochroidae, and Salpingidae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) of the Maritime Provinces of Canada
• Revision of Thisiomorphus Pic (Coleoptera: Mycteridae: Eurypinae) with descriptions of eleven new species from Central and South America <br />and a key to genera of Neotropical Eurypinae
• The first fossil Coleoptera record from the Volyn Region, Ukraine, with description of a new Glesoconomorphus (Coleoptera, Mycteridae) in syninclusion with Winterschmidtiidae (Acari) and a key to species.