Short-winged Mold Beetles and Ant-loving Beetles-Pselaphidae and Clavigeridae

Short-winged Mold Beetles and Ant-loving Beetles- Pselaphidae and Clavigeridae


Members of the families Pselaphidae and Clavigeridae closely resemble rove beetles.

Pselaphidae. The pselaphids, or short-winged mold beetles, are small and brown or yellow in color. Like rove beetles, they have short elytra; however, they display only three tarsal segments, whereas the rove beetles usually have more than three.

Short-winged mold beetles are found in piles of fallen leaves, in rotting wood, along streams and the edges of pools, and near the shores of oceans. They are also found in animal nests and burrows and in caves. This family has a worldwide distribution but most species are found in tropical habitats. Those species that live with ants secrete substances that the ants eagerly eat.

Clavigeridae. The ant-loving beetles resemble rove beetles in that they also display shortened elytra. They can be distinguished from rove beetles by their antennae, which are divided into only two segments, and by their tarsi, which have a single claw.

The ant-loving beetle is so named because it is usually found in ant nests. Claviger testaceus, for example, lives in the nest of the yellow meadow ant, Lasius flavus. This beetle gives off a secretion through tiny pores in its wing covers. The ants lick this substance from the body of C. testaceus; in return for this nourishment, they provide food and adequate nesting space for their guest.