Alexiidae Imhoff, 1856

Berx, Peter, Bosmans, Bart, Dekoninck, Wouter, Janssen, Marc, Stassen, Eugène & Crevecoeur, Luc, 2023, Faunistic survey of myrmecophilous and other ant-associated beetles and spiders in the Belgian province of Limburg (Araneae, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Belgian Journal of Entomology 141, pp. 1-61 : 9

Alexiidae Imhoff, 1856

This family is represented by a single genus, Sphaerosoma Samouelle, 1819 containing some 50 species mostly distributed in Central and Southern Europe, with a few species dispersed in North Africa. The distribution of S. globosum (1.8mm) as well as of S. pilosum (1.4-1.6 mm) ( Fig. 5 ) is restricted to Europe while, moreover, they are the most common of the European species (LÖBL & SMETANA, 2007). The alexiidid beetles live in association with mushrooms, feeding on their fruiting bodies and all the specimens mentioned in this study are collected by sieving forest litter, rotten wood and fungi.

Figures

Fig. 5. Sphaerosoma pilosum (Panzer, 1793) (1.5 mm; range 1.4-1.6mm) © U. Schmidt..