Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Black-headed Melyrid

Collops tricolor (Say)

Family Melyridae, Subfamily Malachiinae

cf: Collops bipunctatus

(males have enlarged third antennomeres, 
see discussion of potentially similar "antennae foreplay" in Meloe)

Woburn, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts
June 19, 2006 (Tom Murray)

Range: Eastern US

Size: 5mm

Similar Species: 

There are 70 New World species of Collops, 67 occur in North America, 45 occur in all geographic regions  north of Mexico (Arnett et al, 2002)

Texas Taxa:

Collops balteatus LeConte 
Collops bipunctatus (Say)
Collops confluens LeConte
Collops dux Fall 
Collops flavicinctus Fall
Collops nigriceps (Say)
Collops pallipes Marshall
Collops punctulatus LeConte
Collops quadrimaculatus (Fabricius)
Collops vittatus (Say) 

Family ID Characters:

• Body nearly always widest towards rear (in eastern US species)
• Elytra usually soft and loosely covering abdomen
• Abdomen sometimes exposed beyond elytra
• Often covered with moderately dense erect hairs.
• Pronotum usually wider than it is long
• Head more or less concealed from above
• Antennae saw-toothed or threadlike, rarely comblike or fan-shaped
• Legs usually long and slender
• Black, blue, or green, often with red, yellow, or orange.
• Tarsi 5-5-5

Biography: Thomas Say (1787 – 1834) - Wikipedia

References:

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley & J.H. Frank. (editors). 2002. American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL. xiv + 861 pp.

Bland, R.G. 1986. Antennal and mouthpart sensilla of the blister beetle, Meloe campanicollis (Coleoptera: Meloidae). Great Lakes Entomologist, 19(4): 209–215.

Crowson, R.A. 1955 (reprint 1967). The Natural Classification of the Families of Coleoptera. E. W. Classey, Middlesex, England. 214 pp.

Fall, H.C. 1912. A review of the North American species of Collops (Col): Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 20: 249–274. 

Horn, G.H. 1870. Contributions to the coleopterology of the United States. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 3:69-97.

King, P.S. 1985. Natural history of Collops georgianus (Coleoptera: Melyridae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 78:131­13

King, P.S. 1987. Macro- and microgeographic structure of a spatially subdivided beetle species in nature. Evolution, 41: 401-416.

King, P.S. 1988. Distribution and genetic structure of two allopatric beetle (Coleoptera: Melyridae) species on rock outcrops in the southeast. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 81: 890-898.

Knowlton, G.F. 1944. Collops feeding. Journal of Economic Entomology, 37: 443.

LeConte, J.L. 1852. Catalogue of the Melyrides of the United States, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 6: 163-171.

Marshall, M.Y. 1951. Studies in Malachiidae, III. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 27: 77-132.

Marshall, M.Y. 1953. Studies in Malachiidae, IV. American Midland Naturalist, 49: 825-831.

Marshall, M.Y. 1954. Notes on the Malachiidae. Coleopterists Bulletin, 8: 28.

Marshall, M.Y. 1955. Studies in Malachiidae, VI. Coleopterists Bulletin, 9: 35-48.

Pinto, J., & A. Mayor. 1986. Size, mating success and courtship pattern in the Meloidae (Coleoptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 79: 597–604.

Russell, L. 1966. A new species of Collops from Washington State (Coleoptera: Melyridae). The Coleopterists Bulletin, 20(1): 8-10. 

Seago A. E., Wheeler Q. D., 2004: Two new species of Aglyptinus Cockerell with unusual sexually dimorphic antennae and diffraction gratings (Coleoptera: Leiodidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin, 58(2): 235–244.

White, R.E. 1983. A Field Guide to the Beetles of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 368 pp.

03 Jul 2007  © Mike Quinn / mike.quinn@tpwd.state.tx.us / Texas Entomology / Texas Beetle Information