Oxelytrum cayennense

Oxelytrum cayennense
Oxelytrum cayennense from Venezuela. Mounted specimen on display at Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Silphidae
Subfamily: Silphinae
Tribe: Silphini
Genus: Oxelytrum
Species: O. cayennense
Binomial name
Oxelytrum cayennense[1]
(Stürm, 1826)

Oxelytrum cayennense is a species of burying beetles or carrion beetles belonging to the family Silphidae.

Description

Oxelytrum cayennense can reach a length of about 13–19 millimetres (0.51–0.75 in). They have three ridges on each elytron, without hairs on the pronotal disk and without a tooth or only with a small protuberance in the humeral region of the elytra. Elytra are black, with pointed apices. Head has prominent eyes and antennae with a 3-segmented antennal club. Pronotum usually shows a uniform orange-red or yellow color, but often a dark maculae, almost rounded or a little quadrangular-shaped, occupies the center of the pronotal disk. [2] [3]

These carrion beetles are nocturnal. They are commonly associated with decomposing carcasses of animals. Adults feed both on soft tissues of carcasses and on larvae and eggs of flies, while the larvae are strictly scavengers. [3][4]

Distribution and habitat

This species is present in most of northern and central South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Peru, Venezuela). It can be found in lower to middle elevation rain forest habitats. [2][5]

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia of Life
  2. 1 2 Steward B. Peck, Robert S. Anderson Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the carrion beetles of Latin America Questiones Entomologicaes 21.247-317 1985
  3. 1 2 Lúcia M. Almeida; Kleber M. Mise Diagnosis and key of the main families and species of South American Coleoptera of forensic importance Rev. Bras. entomol. vol.53 no.2 São Paulo June 2009
  4. ↑ Kleber Makoto Mise Parâmetros biológicos e métodos de diferenciação de espécies e ínstares de Coleoptera de interesse forense Departamento de Zoologia, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná
  5. ↑ Silphidae de Argentina
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