Erotylidae, or thepleasing fungus beetles, is afamily ofbeetles belonging toCucujoidea containing over 100genera. In the present circumscription, it contains 6 tribes (Tritomini,Dacnini,Megalodacnini,Erotylini,Cryptophilini, andLanguriini) and 10 subfamilies (Cryptophilinae,Dacninae,Encaustinae,Erotylinae,Languriinae,Loberinae,Megalodacninae,Pharaxonothinae,Tritominae, andXenoscelinae).[1] In other words, the narrowly circumscribed Erotylidae correspond to the subfamily Erotylinae in the definitionsensu lato. There are doubts on themonophyly of lower ranked taxa within Erotylidae, with further phylogenetic studies requiring better sampling and studies of unexplored character sets, for example the metendosternite and penile flagellum, which are generally lacking detailed morphological studies within the Coleoptera literature.[2] The Eroytlina taxonomy is based on traits such as their different colors and not off morphological differences like mouthparts, thorax, and abdominal terminalia (Pecci-Maddalena).[3]
Erotylidae feed onplant andfungal matter; some are importantpollinators (e.g. of the ancientcycads), while a few have gained notoriety aspests of some significance. Sometimes, useful and harmful species are found in onegenus, e.g.Pharaxonotha. Most pleasing fungus beetles, however, are inoffensive animals of little significance to humans.
^Pecci-Maddalena, Italo Salvatore De Castro; Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano; Skelley, Paul (2021). "The metendosternite and penile flagellum: two unexplored character systems of pleasing fungus beetles (Coleoptera: Erotylidae)".Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.193 (3):953–972.doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa152.
Leschen, Richard A B (2003).Erotylidae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cucujoidea): phylogeny and review (Part 1). Fauna of New Zealand. Vol. 47. Manaaki Whenua Press, New Zealand. pp. 108 pp.doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.47.ISBN9780478093506.
T. Sen Gupta & R. A. Crowson (1971). "A review of the classification of the family Languriidae (Coleoptera: Clavicornia) and the place of Languriidae in the natural system of Clavicornia".Memoirs of the Zoological Survey of India.15 (2):1–42.
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