628 



FAMILY XXVI. NITIDULID-E 



Putnam County : rare. April 1 i . Sifted from debris near a 

 hillside spring. 



Family XXVI. XIT1DULIDJE. 

 The Sap-feedixg Beetles. 



This is a family of medium size, comprising small and usually 

 somewhat flattened beetles. In most species the thorax has wide, 

 thin side margins and the elytra are often truncate at apex, thus 

 leaving the end of the abdomen exposed. In food habits they Vary 

 much, a few being found on flowers and others on fungi or carrion. 

 The great majority, however, feed on the sap or .juices of various 

 trees and fruits, especially that which has begun to ferment or sour. 

 They can be found in numbers in early spring wherever sap exudes 

 from trees, especially those of maple. 



Dury says that he has trapped hundreds by laying chips on top 

 of a freshly cut maple stump. Under these chips, in a day or two. 

 were congregated twenty or more species and hundreds of indi- 

 viduals. A mixture of vinegar with brown sugar or molasses will 

 also attract them if spread on a log in the woods and then covered 

 with chips. In late summer and early autumn certain species, es- 

 pecially those of //■-•. are often found in or under partially decayed 

 apples, pears or melons. They are therefore to be classed as in- 

 noxious, rather than either beneficial or harmful in habit ; though 

 the larva? of the genera Ips. Carpophilus and Rhizopliagus have 

 been shown to be. in part at least, carnivorous, subsisting upon the 

 soft bodied larvae of 3ther beetles which live under bark. 



The name Xitidula. applied by Fabricius to the typical genus, 

 is very inappropriate for the family, since it literally means sinning 

 or elegant, whereas the great majority of the species are clothed 

 with a fine pubescence which does not permit of their shining to any 

 great extent. 



The principal characters distinguishing the Xitidu- 

 lida? are : Antenna? 11- rarely 10- jointed, terminating 

 in a round or oval club of three, rarely two. joints and 

 inserted under the margin of the front: thorax with 

 base sometimes closely uniting with that of elytra. 

 Fig. 237. Mtiduk. sometimes passing over the base of the latter (Fig. 

 JennfaSwe^ 237) ; elytra usually truncate, sometimes entire: front 

 wood) coxae transverse, separated, not prominent: middle 



and hind coxae transverse, flat, widely separated, the latter extend- 

 ing almost to the margin of the body ■ abdomen with five free ven- 



