Sphaeriusidae

Larvae

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Sphaerius. © 2007 David R. Maddison

Habitat

Adults of one species occur on the banks of the Santa Cruz River in Tumacocori, in Southern Arizona. They are found crawling on damp sandy soil, in shady areas or under a thin layer of litter, from 0.2-1.0 meters from the river shore. They are most abundant where there is a thin layer of dark green "slime" (presumably a small alga) on the surface.

A sample of this soil with slime was taken back to the lab, and watered lightly every few weeks. After about 6 months, larval Sphaerius appeared on the surface. They were most common on those pieces of sand that were covered with the greenish slime; the larvae crawled in the thin layer of water that covered that slime, as shown in the picture, below:

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Sphaerius larva crawling on greenish slime.

Other Names for Sphaeriusidae

• Minute Bog Beetles
• Microsporidae
• Microsporus
• Sphaerius

References

Beutel, R. G. and G. B. Raffaini. 2003. First record of Sphaeriusidae for Argentina. Koleopterologische Rundschau 73:1-6.

Britton, E. B. 1966. On the Larva of Sphaerius and systematic position of the Sphaeriidae (Coleoptera). Australian Journal of Zoology, 14, 1193-1198.

Endrödy-Younga, S. 1997. Microsporidae (Coleoptera: Myxophaga), a new family for the African continent. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 36:309-311.

International Committee of Zoological Nomenclature. 2000. Opinion 1957, Sphaerius Waltl, 1838 (Insecta, Coleoptera): conserved; and Sphaeriidae Erichson, 1845 (Coleoptera): spelling emended to Sphaeriusidae, so removing the homonymy with Sphaeriidae Deshayes, 1854 (1820) (Mollusca, Bivalvia). Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 57(3):182-184.

Jäch, M. A. 1999. Case 3052. Sphaerius Waltl, 1838 and Sphaeriusidae Erichson, 1845 (Insecta, Coleoptera): proposed conservation by the partial revocation of Opinion 1331. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 56(2):117-120.

Lawrence, J. F. and H. Reichardt. 1991. Microsporidae (Myxophaga). Pages 302-303 in: Immature Insects. Vol. 2. F.W. Stehr (ed.) Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., Dubuque, Iowa.

Löbl, I. 1995. New species of terrestrial Microsporus from the Himalaya (Coleoptera: Microsporidae). Entomologische Blätter 91:129-138.

Reichardt, H. 1973. A critical study of the suborder Myxophaga, with a taxonomic revision of the Brazilian Torridincolidae and Hydroscaphidae (Coleoptera). Arquivos de Zoologia, S. Paulo 24(2):73-162.