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Beetles of Zihuatanejo

ORDER COLEOPTERA

Double-dotted Anthicid
Stricticomus tobias

-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

-Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

-Insects (Class Insecta)

-Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

-Beetles (Order Coleoptera​​)

-​Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf, and Snout Beetles (Suborder Polyphaga)

-​Cucujiform Beetles (Infraorder Cucujiformia)

-Darkling Beetles and Allies (Superfamily Tenebrionoidea)

-Darkling Beetles (Family Tenebrionidae)

-Subfamily Anthicinae

-Tribe Anthicini

-Genus Stricticomus

-Double-dotted Anthicid (Stricticomus tobias)



The Double-dotted Anthicid beetle (Stricticomus tobias), is a small insect belonging to the family Anthicidae, commonly called ant-like flower beetles. These beetles resemble ants, primarily due to their body shape. They have a head that constricts just in front of the pronotum (the section behind the head) to form a "neck", and the posterior end of the pronotum is also typically narrow. Their legs and antennae are slender, enhancing their ant-like appearance. Adult beetles are omnivorous, consuming small arthropods, pollen, fungi, and other organic matter. The larvae, which often live in decaying plant material and fruit, can be omnivores, predators, or fungus-eaters.

Diet

  • Adults: Primarily associated with decaying organic material, where they likely feed on small insects, mites, fungi and other organic matter. The species has been recorded around warm, fermenting plant material and decomposing material.

  • Larvae: The biology is poorly documented, but they are believed to develop in decaying organic matter, where they may prey on small organisms.

  • Despite the common name “flower beetle,” S. tobias is not primarily a flower visitor.

Range

  • Stricticomus tobias is a tiny ant-like flower beetle (Anthicidae) in the subfamily Anthicinae and tribe Anthicini. It is currently recognised as a valid species; Anthicus tobias is an older name for the species.

  • It has an unusually broad, essentially cosmopolitan distribution and has been recorded in North America, the Caribbean, South America and numerous Old World regions.

  • Around Zihuatanejo, it is established and occasional. 

Habitat

  • Stricticomus tobias is associated with decaying and fermenting organic material, including compost, manure, rotting vegetation, wood chips and accumulations of plant debris.

  • Around Zihuatanejo, look in compost, piles of decomposing vegetation, animal dung, rotting plant material and other accumulations of organic debris.

  • It may also turn up at lights, as small anthicids are sometimes attracted to artificial illumination.

  • Because of its minute size, careful examination of organic debris is much more productive than simply searching for beetles on vegetation.

Size

  • Adult length: approximately 2.6–3.3 mm (0.10–0.13 in).

  • Extremely small, with the narrow, ant-like body form characteristic of Anthicidae.

  • Usually dark with contrasting pale markings; the species' common name, Double-dotted Anthicid, refers to its distinctive paired spots.

  • Its tiny size means it can easily be mistaken for a small ant when it is moving rapidly through debris.

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