16 May 2009

Diatelium wallacei


You learn something every day. I encountered this photo during my weekly perusal of zumbi; the link there sent me to the apparent original source, where amid the Chinese characters I saw "Diatelium wallacei" and "Ulu Gombak, Malaysia."

Thence to Google, where one link referred to this creature as a "shining fungus beetle." Finally, to the World Catalogue of Scaphidiinae, which offered this information:
"The subfamily Scaphidiinae is a member of the Oxyteline Group of Staphylinidae."
Not much help there. Then this:
Some members, such as Diatelium wallacei Pascoe, with its greatly elongate neck and short body, is unlike any other Coleoptera.
Amen to that. I have never seen a beetle with a body habitus even remotely resembling this creature (bringing to mind, of course, J.B.S. Haldane's famous quote that God must have an "inordinate fondness for beetles.")

They live in forests amidst the leaf litter and are saprophagous (feeding on decaying matter) and practice mycophagy (eating fungus), presumably for dessert.

Presumably that long neck is adaptive in some fashion to those dietary habits. Fascinating creature. Thank you, zumbi.

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