Cybocephalidae is a family of sap, bark and fungus beetles in the order Coleoptera with a wide global distribution. The type genus Cybocephalus has more than 200 species in it and the entire family has about 220 species in all. Many species are predators of armoured scale insects (Diaspididae). There are four tarsal segments on all the legs. The body is only slightly longer than wide and very convex and shiny. They are small and about 1 to 3mm long. The insect can roll into a ball like position with its downward facing head. The tarsomeres are lobed underneath. The family is sometimes treated as a subfamily within the Nitidulidae.

Genera

Cybocephalidae contains the following genera:

  • Amedissia Kirejtshuk & Mantič, 2015 – Central and South America
  • Apastillus Kirejtshuk & Mantič, 2015 – Japan
  • Conglobatus T. R. Smith, 2020 – Central America, South America and the West Indies.
  • Cybocephalus Erichson, 1844 – Worldwide
  • Endrodiellus Enrödy-Younga, 1962 – Madagascar
  • Eupastillus Lawrence, 2019 – Australia
  • Hierronius Enrödy-Younga, 1968 – Madeira and Canary Islands
  • Horadion Enrödy-Younga, 1976 – Eastern Africa and southern Asia
  • Microthomas T. R. Smith, 2020 – Bolivia
  • Pacicephalus Kirejtshuk & Mantič, 2015 – Micronesia
  • †Pastillocenicus Kirejtshuk & Nel, 2008 – French Eocene amber
  • Pastillodes Enrödy-Younga, 1968 – Northern Africa
  • Pastillus Enrödy-Younga, 1962 – Tropical and southern Africa
  • Pycnocephalus Sharp, 1891 – Mexico, Central America and South America
  • Taxicephomerus Kirejtshuk, 1994 – Vietnam
  • Theticephalus Kirejtshuk, 1988 – Northern Africa, Middle East and Central Asia

Further reading

  • Arnett, R.H. Jr.; Thomas, M. C.; Skelley, P. E.; Frank, J. H., eds. (2002). American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press.
  • Kellogg, Vernon L. (1905). American insects. H. Holt.
  • Arnett, Ross H. Jr. (2000). American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico. Vol.2nd Edition. CRC Press. ISBN0-8493-0212-9.
  • Leng, Charles W. (1920). Catalogue of the Coleoptera of America, North of Mexico. John D. Sherman, Jr.
  • Crotch, G.R. (1873). Check list of the Coleoptera of America, north of Mexico. Naturalists' Agency.
  • Capinera, John L., ed. (2008). Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer. ISBN978-1402062421.
  • Gillott, Cedric (1980). . Plenum Press. ISBN0-306-40366-8.
  • Donald J. Borror; Roger Tory Peterson; Richard E. White (1998). A Field Guide to Insects. Houghton Mifflin.
  • Blatchley, W.S. (1910). An illustrated descriptive catalogue of the Coleoptera, beetles (exclusive of the Rhynchophora) known to occur in Indiana. Nature Pub.
  • Papp, Charles S. (1984). Introduction to North American Beetles. Entomography Pubns.
  • White, Richard E. (1983). Peterson Field Guides: Beetles. Houghton Mifflin.