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Beetles Identification Guide

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from T. audax generally in being larger and less elongate and in having sparser<br />

punctation on the frons, larger eyes on the ventral side, usually a more transverse<br />

and more convex pronotum, the prosternum slightly convex in front of the<br />

intercoxal process, and a setiferous patch on the ventral side of the male fore<br />

femur. In addition, the width of the head across the eyes is a little less than in<br />

front of the eyes. The most reliable characteristics for the separation of the two<br />

species are listed in the key (H, couplet 13).<br />

Sexual dimorphism: Males have a setiferous patch on the posterior side of the<br />

fore femur. Females have no such patch.<br />

Distribution: Occurs throughout northern and eastern Europe and probably<br />

established in Egypt and Portugal (Halstead 1969). In North America the species<br />

was first recorded in 1977 from specimens collected in Kentucky. It was<br />

found for the first time in Canada by Loschiavo in 1979, in Winnipeg in a boxcar,<br />

and since then it has been reported in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec,<br />

and Ontario.<br />

Economic importance: In Canada this species has been found, sometimes in<br />

large numbers, only in boxcars carrying flour. As noted by Becker (1982), the<br />

species is of little importance but could become a major pest of flour. In Europe<br />

T. madens has been reported as a secondary pest in flour mills and warehouses; in<br />

Czechoslovakia it also causes considerable damage to pollen stores in beehives<br />

(Halstead 1969).<br />

Selected references<br />

Barké, H.E.; Davis, R. 1969. Notes on the biology of the lesser mealworm,<br />

Alphitobius diaperinus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). J. Ga. Entomol. Soc.<br />

4:46—50.<br />

Butler, P.M. 1949. Observations on the biology of Palorus ratzeburgi Wissman,<br />

with comparative notes on Tenebrionidae in general (Coleoptera). Trans.<br />

R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 100:249—273.<br />

Chittenden, F.H. 1917. The two-banded fungus beetle. J. Econ. Entomol.<br />

10:282—287.<br />

Cotton, R.T.; St. George, R.A. 1929. The mealworms. U.S. Dep. Agric. Tech.<br />

Bull. 95. 37 pp.<br />

Good, N.E. 1936. The flour beetles of the genus Tribolium. U.S. Dep. Agric.<br />

Tech. Bull. 498. 57 pp.<br />

Green, M. 1980. Alphitobius viator Mulsant & Godart in stored products and its<br />

identification (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). J. Stored Prod. Res.<br />

l6:67—70.<br />

Halstead, D.G.H. 1967. A revision of the genus Palorus (sens. lat.)(Coleoptera:<br />

Tenebrionidae). Bull. Br. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Entomol. 19:59—148.<br />

190

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