PSYCHE 
Vol. 82 
June, 1975 
No. 2 
THE NORTH AMERICAN CERYLONIDAE 
(COLEOPTERA: CLAVICORNIA) 1 
By John F. Lawrence 2 and Karl Stephan 3 
Introduction 
The Cerylonidae are a family of small to minute beetles (usually 
2 mm. or less) which occur most commonly in forest litter and under 
bark. At present, there are about 40 genera and over 300 described 
species known from all of the major zoogeographic regions. Crowson 
(1955) first recognized the Cerylonidae as an independent clavicorn 
family, including the cerylonines and murmidiines, as well as Euxes- 
ius and its allies; but these groups have been treated as tribes of the 
heteromerous family Colydiidae by both Hetschko (1930) and Ar- 
nett (1968). In their world generic revision of the family, Sen 
Gupta and Crowson (1973) added Anommatus Wesmael, Abmmus 
Reitter, and Ostomopsis Scott, while transferring Eidoreus Sharp 
(— Eupsilobius Casey) to the Endomychidae. The present paper 
consists of a revision of the 10 genera and 18 species of Cerylonidae 
occurring in America north of Mexico. With respect to the compo- 
sition of the family and that of its major subordinate groups, we 
have followed the classification presented by Sen Gupta and Crowson ; 
the interrelationships among the subgroups, however, are still obscure, 
so we have treated the Euxestinae, Anommatinae, Metaceryloninae 
(not North American), Murmidiinae, Ostomopsinae, and Cerylon- 
inae as independent subfamilies. 
The following abbreviations have been used in keys and descrip- 
tions: PL — pronotal length, PW — pronotal width, EL — elytral 
length, EW — elytral width, and TL — sum of PL and EL. The 
word “length” refers to the total length, including the head, and is 
^Published with the aid of a grant from the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology. 
2 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 
Mass. 
3 3 0 3 8 E. Eastland St., Tucson, Ariz. 
Manuscript received by the editor July 6, 1975. 
