The Nitidulidae are one of the most diverse beetle families with respect to the feeding behaviors expressed by its representative species. Members of this family are known to exhibit anthophily (flower feeding), frugivory (fruit feeding), mycophagy (fungus feeding), necrophagy (carrion feeding), sap feeding, predation, folivory (leaf feeding) and some are even inquilinous with social Hymenoptera. Pocadius species are among the many mycophagous taxa within the subfamily Nitidulinae. This genus feeds almost exclusively on puffballs (Gasteromycetes: Lycoperdales: Lycoperdaceae), especially Calvatia, Geaster, and Lycoperda. This review presents host data and geographic distributions for all known Pocadius species. Life history data of the four Nearctic species as well as several Neotropical species are discussed. The depauperate systematic information available for Pocadius with reference to potential outgroups and species groups are presented and a project to clarify the confused systematics of Pocadius and its allies is proposed. Outgroup comparisons to Pocadites, Pocadiodes, and other putative relatives are used to test for Pocadius monophyly. Adult, larval, and molecular character matrices for phylogenetic reconstructions of Pocadius are described and preliminary cladograms presented. Areas of high Pocadius species diversity in single site collections are used to exemplify the need for more thorough collecting and exploration in areas of high Lycoperdaceae abundance. Through a revision of the genus Pocadius and descriptions of host associations and geographic distributions, evolutionary trends such as fungal host switching, evolution of mycophagy (mouthpart modification, etc.), and biogeographic patterns of speciation can be hypothesized.
Species 1: Coleoptera Nitidulidae Pocadius
Keywords: mycophagy, taxonomy
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA