Macropogon piceus LeConte

Macropogon piceus - dorsal habitus.

Introduction & Bionomics

The Artematopodidae are a small family consisting of only three genera and eight species in North America. Little is known of their ecology or behavior. Larvae of several species have been consistently associated with moss mats growing on granite boulders where they tunnel into the rhizoids. Those of Macropogon piceus LeConte have been associated with the moss Paraleucobryum longifolium (Hedw.)Loeske (Young, 2002). An interesting feature of their anatomy is a tongue-like process located near the apical end of the ventral side of the elytra.

Artematapodidae in Canada

Process on apico-ventral portion of elytra.

In Canada two species of Macropogon, M. piceus Leconte and M. testaceipennis Motshulsky, and two species of Eurypogon, E. californicus Horn and E. niger (Melsheimer) are known. M. piceus has been recorded from the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick (Bousquet 1991).

Recent research in Nova Scotia has shown that this species is also found in this province with specimens from Halifax, Guysborough, and Hants counties having been collected by DeLancey Bishop, Randy Lauff, and Barry Wright. More research on this intriguing group of beetles would clearly be desirable.

References

Bousquet, Y. 1991. Artematopodidae. In Bousquet, Y. Checklist of Beetles of Canada and Alaska. Agriculture Canada Publication 1861/E. pp. 174-174

Young, D. K. 2002 Artematopodidae Lacordaire 1857. In Arnett, R. H. Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley, & J. H. Frank [ed]. 2002. American Beetles, Volume 2: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea.. CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA. pp. 146-147.

Many thanks to Serge Laplante of the Eastern Cereals and Oilseeds Research Centre in Ottawa for confirming the determination.