Cryptophilus
| Cryptophilus | |
|---|---|
| |
| A "Cryptophilus integer" as depicted in Georgiy Jacobson's Beetles of Russia | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Infraorder: | Cucujiformia |
| Family: | Erotylidae |
| Subfamily: | Xenoscelinae |
| Genus: | Cryptophilus Reitter, 1874 |
| Type species | |
| Cryptophilus obliteratus Reitter, 1874
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Gryptophilus (lapsus) | |
Cryptophilus is a genus of tiny pleasing fungus beetles (family Erotylidae) which is found in much of the world except the polar regions. Some authors place this genus in tribe Cryptophilini of subfamily Cryptophilinae, others accept fewer subfamilies in the Erotylidae and place the Cryptophilini in subfamily Xenoscelinae. Earlier authors usually allied Cryptophilus with the lizard beetles, at that time held to be a distinct family Languriidae but actually paraphyletic with Erotylidae and eventually merged into it.[1][2]
The genus Toramus is sometimes included here.
Description and ecology
[edit]Cryptophilus adults are brown and slightly hairy beetles, around 2 mm long, and with 3-segmented antennal clubs. They resemble beetles of the unrelated family Cryptophagidae, which has led to considerable nomenclatorial confusion (see below). Unlike cryptophagids, Cryptophilus have sockets for the foreleg coxae that are closed.[3]
The larvae are long, hairy and have grains or knobs on the back. They can be mistaken for larvae of the Monotomidae genus Monotoma or the Nitidulidae (sap beetle) genus Epuraea (both Cucujoidea, like the Erotylidae), which occur in similar habitats. Cryptophilus larvae can be recognised by their mandibles, which lack a sub-apical accessory tooth and have a large, subtriangular prostheca.[3]
Adults and larvae are mycophages that feed on mould. Cryptophilus occur in decaying plant matter (e.g. leaf litter, wood debris, compost heaps, grass cuttings, straw) and also in stored food products (e.g. cereals, beans, flour, dried fruit, nuts).[3]
Systematics and nomenclature
[edit]When Edmund Reitter established the genus Cryptophilus in 1874, he did not specify a type species. This was corrected only in 1969, when Michio Chûjô designated the beetle described as Cryptophagus integer by Oswald Heer in 1841 as type species of Cryptophilus. The species had been moved to Cryptophilus by Reitter and was considered a representative member of cryptophiline beetles by subsequent authors. However, towards the end of the 20th century, experts in Europe came to understand that the presumed "C.integer" was actually a cryptic species complex. While beetle researcher Jens Esser studied this, he found that Heer had been correct all along – the type specimen used to establish his species Cryptophagus integer was indeed a Cryptophagidae beetle, not an erotyline, namely a species had been described by Gustaf von Paykull in 1798 as Dermestes abietis and named today Micrambe abietis. The genus Micrambe was split from Cryptophagus in 1863 – at the time Heer described his "new" species, Cryptophagus was the correct genus name, and Paykull's species was indeed known as Cryptophagus abietis. Reitter had not seen Heer's type specimen when establishing Cryptophilus, and had misinterpreted an ambiguous passage in Heer's description to mean that Heer's species lacked a trait authors in Reitter's day used to distinguish erotylids from cryptophagids.[2][4]
As for the erotylid beetles named "Cryptophilus integer" by researchers for more than a century, Esser determined that they were two species. One was C.propinquus, also known as C.fluminalis. The other, Esser at first identified as C.simplex, established as Paramecosoma simplex by Thomas Wollaston in 1857. However, he soon discovered a still older description of the "other C.integer": Typhaea angusta by Wilhelm Rosenhauer in 1856, now C.angustus. Reitter's comparison of the beetles he called "C.integer" with C.obliteratus suggest that his "C.integer" specimens were more likely than not C.angustus. In 2019, the nomenclatural problem of the type species of Cryptophilus being a Micrambe was resolved when Esser, Matthew Gimmel and Richard Leschen re-fixed the type to C.obliteratus, which was unaffected by the entire "C.integer" confusion.[4][5]
Species
[edit]About 10 species were named in the genus Cryptophilus as of 2020:
- Cryptophilus angustus (Rosenhauer, 1856) (= C.balearicus, C.barnevillei, C.ceylonicus, C.debilis, C.frater, C.integer (auct. nec Heer 1841, in part), C.muticus, C.simplex)
- Cryptophilus cryptophagoides Grouvelle, 1916
- Cryptophilus hiranoi Sasaji, 1984
- Cryptophilus kurbatovi Lyubarsky, 2010
- Cryptophilus minimus Grouvelle, 1914
- Cryptophilus mirus Grouvelle, 1914
- Cryptophilus obliteratus Reitter, 1874[verification needed] (= C.seriatus)
- Cryptophilus propinquus Reitter, 1874 (= C.fluminalis, C.integer (auct. nec Heer 1841, in part), C.propinguus (lapsus))
- Cryptophilus quadrisignatus Motschulsky, 1860
The Barcode of Life Data System Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequence data suggest the existence of at least two further (sub)species, undescribed as of 2025:[6]
- Cryptophilus sp. "SAEVG Morph0281" (COI-5P sequence, Costa Rica, India, Western Australia)
- Cryptophilus sp. "TJH-2004" (COI-3P sequence, unknown locality)
References
[edit]
- ^ "Cryptophilus". GBIF. Retrieved 2026-06-18.
- ^ a b Leschen, Richard A.B. & Węgrzynowicz, Piotr (1998): Generic catalogue and taxonomic status of Languriidae (Cucujoidea). Ann. Zool. 48(3/4): 221-243. PDF fulltext
- ^ a b c Ruta, R.; Jałoszyński, P.; Sienkiewicz, P.; Konwerski, S. (2011). "Erotylidae (Insecta, Coleoptera) of Poland - problematic taxa, updated keys and new records". ZooKeys (134): 1–13. Bibcode:2011ZooK..134....1R. doi:10.3897/zookeys.134.1673. PMC 3229208. PMID 22140339.
- ^ a b Esser, Jens (2016): Über die Identität von Cryptophilus integer (Heer, 1841) (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) ["On the identity of Cryptophilus integer (Heer, 1841) (Coleoptera: Erotylidae)"]. Entomologische Nachrichten und Berichte 60(3/4): 213-218 (German with English abstract). PDF fulltext
- ^ Gimmel, Matthew L.; Leschen, Richard A. B.; Esser, Jens (2019). "Revised Type Species Designations for Cryptophilus Reitter, 1874 and Pteryngium Reitter, 1887 (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Erotylidae, Cryptophagidae)". The Coleopterists Bulletin. 73 (3): 528. doi:10.1649/0010-065X-73.3.528.
- ^ Barcode of Life Data System [2026]: [tax Taxon Cryptophilus]. Retrieved 2026-06-18.
Further reading
[edit]- Leschen, Richard A. B. (2003). Erotylidae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) phylogey and review. Fauna of New Zealand. Vol. 47. Manaaki Whenua Press. ISBN 978-0-478-09350-6. ISSN 0111-5383.
- Lobl, I.; Smetana, A., eds. (2007). Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera, Volume 4: Elateroidea - Derodontoidea - Bostrichoidea - Lymexyloidea - Cleroidea - Cucujoidea. Apollo Books. ISBN 978-8788757675.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Cryptophilus at Wikimedia Commons