Phymaphora pulchella Newman, 1838

Ferreira, Raul Nascimento, 2016, Annotated checklist of the handsome fungus beetles of Connecticut, USA (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Endomychidae)., Arquivos Entomolóxicos 15, pp. 279-289 : 282-283

Phymaphora pulchella Newman, 1838 ( Figs. 3 & 4 )

Length 3.0- 3.8 mm, elongate, slightly oval, bicolored with reddish or orangish yellow and black. Head blackish with antennal club modified and antennomeres expanded in males and slightly in females. Pronotum with a central black discal spot which can be variable. Elytra with a narrow dark suture and having a wide black bands across the middle and tips. Adults found in birch polypores and shelving tooth fungi Climacodon septentrionale (Fries, 1821) Karsten, 1881 , also known as Steccherinum septentrionale (Fries, 1821) Bankers, 1906 , and Steccherinum ochraceum (Persoon, 1792) Gray, 1821 , a widespread and not uncommon species on dead hardwood twigs and branches, especially maples. Occasionally it is attracted to light. It is found across New England.

Material studied:

Fairfield Co.: Monroe, 5 September 1938, A.P. Jacot, 1 ex. ( CAES) .

New Haven Co.: South Meriden, 14 November (no year), Harry L. Johnson, 1 ex. ( CAES) .

Windham Co.: Windham, Follett Road, 12 june 1999, J. O’Donnell, 1 ex. ( UCMS); Eastford , Natchaug State Forest at entrance on State Road 198, 41.84238 N and 72.09471 W , 12/ 18 April 2012, Tracy Zarrillo, 3 ex. ( RNFC), captured in a 12 funnel Lindgren trap baited with alpha-pinene and ethyl alcohol in plantation of eastern white pine, Pinus stratus Linnaeus (Chris Maier, pers. comm.) .

Length 2.0- 2.5 mm, elongate, subparallel, dark reddish brown, shining and sparcely punctate. Pronotum transverse, widest before middle, sides round before middle, then straight and converging behind and basal two-thirds with a pair of lines down the middle each flanked by a pit before angle. Elytra usually darker with humeri indistinctly and apices broadly reddish in some entire elytra reddish brown. Adults found in Polyporus tulipiferae (Schwein, 1822) Overholts, 1915 , now Irpex lacteus (Fries) Fries, 1828 a milk-white toothed polypore on dead branches of deciduous trees, and under barks with fungus. Not common in New England.

Material studied:

New Haven Co.: No locality, date or collector name, only SI#3178, 1 ex. ( CAES). Britton (1938) reported this species from Connecticut (probably New Haven) and it still resides in his collection; Hamden , 8 July 2008, Raul N. Ferreira , 1 ex. ( RNFC) .

Figures

Figs. 3-4.- Phymaphora pulchella Newman, 1838. 3.- Habitus (Photo by Tom Murray). 4.- Distributional map. Figs. 5-6.- Rhanidea unicolor (Ziegler, 1845). 5.- Habitus (Photo by Tom Murray). 6.- Distributional map.