118

ROUND FUNGUS AND

SMALL CARRION BEETLES

LEIODIDAE

LEIODIDAE

family

Leiodidae

known species

3,700

distribution

Worldwide except Antarctica

habitat

Damp places, many species in forests, others

in nests and burrows of larger animals

size

1–7 mm

diet

Fungi, carrion, dead organic matter

notes

The genus Glacicavicola is one of the larger,

stranger, and least known Leiodidae. The

name means “ice cave dweller,” and it lives

in cold lava tubes, wet limestone caves, and

ice caves in the Pacific Northwest of the USA,

scavenging on flying insects that have been

T

he Leiodidae is the second largest family in

the Staphylinoidea, even though at around

3,700 species it is tiny compared to the

hyperdiverse Staphylinidae. Leiodidae

is divided into several subfamilies, and

a large proportion of them have the

eighth segment of the adult antenna

very small compared to the seventh

and ninth, an immediately

recognizable feature despite

the considerable variation of

morphology within the family.

Two main subfamilies are likely to

be found. The domed, shiny subfamily

Leiodinae (round fungus beetles) inhabit

moist, rotting, fungal fruiting bodies, under

bark, on slime molds, and similar situations, and

fly in the evening, when they can be collected by

sweeping a net through vegetation. Many species

are only associated with subterranean fungi, and

are rarely seen. The subfamily Cholevinae (small

carrion beetles) are flatter and more elongated with

longer legs, and are found living as scavengers in the

burrows of mammals and reptiles, or in bird nests,

and on and around carrion. Highly modified

Cholevinae, the tribe Leptodirini, are found in caves,

and have elongated limbs and antennae, and have

often lost their eyes.

Some of the most modified of all leiodids are

the subfamily Platypsyllinae, which live closely

associated with certain mammals, including among

the fur of the animals themselves. The Beaver Beetle