THE EYELESS CATOPOCERUS BEETLES (LEIODIDAE) 
OF EASTERN NORTH AMRICA* 
By Stewart B. Peck 
Department of Biology, Carleton University 
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KiS 5B6 
The Leiodid beetle genus Catopocerus Motschoulsky 1869 is 
composed exclusively of small (1.8-4. 5 mm body length), eyeless, 
wingless, partially depigmented inhabitants of moist forest soil and 
duff, and occasionally of caves. The genus, the only member of tbe 
subfamily Catopocerinae, is known to occur only in North America. 
The distribution of the genus is principally the unglaciated mountain 
forests of the eastern and western portions of the continent. 
Hatch ( 1957) has reviewed the nine described species from western 
North America. These range from the San Francisco area northward 
in coastal forests to Sitka, Alaska. Undescribed species occur in this 
region and also in southern California, Arizona, and Colorado (per- 
sonal data). The known and new western species will be covered in 
a future paper which will also include data from an assemblage of 
over 2000 specimens collected throughout Oregon by Ellen Benedict 
of Portland State University. 
This paper reports on the two described eastern North American 
species, and describes three new eastern species. 
The genus possesses a character common to the family; the eighth 
antennal segment is smaller than either the seventh or ninth segments 
(except in C. pusio Horn of California in which the seventh and 
eighth segments are equally small). They may be distinguished from 
other leiodids by a combination of the 'following characters: eyeless- 
ness, winglessness, oval shape, dorsal-ventral flattening, open procoxal 
cavities, five segmented abdomen, and separated metacoxae (Peck, 
1973 : 50 ). 
Methods 
In the field, series of specimens were taken from moist forest litter, 
soil, and well-rotted logs. The debris was sifted in the field through 
a one-half inch mesh screen to remove large objects. The sifted debris 
was carried and stored in large plastic bags until it could be processed 
in “Berlese” funnels. When processed, three liters of litter were 
placed in each funnel (45 cm high, 30 cm across the top, with the 
* Manuscript received by the editor December 17, 1974. 
377 
