Melyridae (family)
Soft-winged flower beetle at Dunlop, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Melyridae (family) | KimPullen | 27 Dec 2018 | |
| Staphylinidae (family) | MichaelMulvaney | 13 Jan 2018 | |
| Staphylinidae (family) | KenT | 12 Dec 2017 | |
| Unverified | Christine | 9 Dec 2017 |
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5 comments
28 Dec 2018
Hi Kim, can you give us a clue why this is Melyridae (aside from the bright colours)? From memory I was going by the short elytra and what I could make of the antennae they didn't seem to fit the Melyridae (e.g. Dicranolaius bellulus).
28 Dec 2018
Hi Ken, it's not easy to give some clear-cut features to separate the two. Melyridae have a relatively soft body, and in the ones that have short elytra (such as this one), those elytra tend to occupy about half the length of the so-called 'afterbody' of the beetle (everything behind the red head-and-prothorax of the species above). The abdomen is very soft in Melyridae, with the sides of each segment separately rounded. In typical Staphylinidae the elytra are clearly less than half the length of the afterbody, and the abdomen is harder, with the sides more or less straight, or evenly tapered to the tip. Staphylinidae often have large mandibles, Melyridae do not. Staphylinidae are an enormous group with thousands of species in Australia, although the vast majority are very small and inconspicuous (Paederus is one of the few genera with colourful species active by day). Melyridae have 350 Australian species, but are more conspicuous and mostly brightly coloured. I hope this helps.
28 Dec 2018
Thanks Kim, one often sees small elongate beetles with short elytra, I might pay them a bit more attention in the future but getting good clear images is a challenge as they are often moving and mostly I work from a tripod - much too shaky when hand holding a camera.
Location information
- Coordinates 148.983493-35.206671
- Places Dunlop, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 7 Dec 2017 12:00 AM Recorded on
- Christine Recorded by
Collections
- Christine Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Melyridae (family) Other beetles Beetles (Coleoptera) Insects
Species information
- Melyridae (family) Scientific name
- Soft-winged flower beetle Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1195.2m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information