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THE  ANT-LIKE FLOWER BEETLES (COL., ANTHICIDAE) OF THÁSOS

The common name sometimes given to this family is a bit misleading as only a small percentage of the species are found in flowers. The adults, however, are ant-like and most species are active on the soil surface or are found amongst piles of dead and decaying vegetation where they are said to feed mainly on dead beetles, though presumably they are omnivorous on a wide range of invertebrates. They are characteristically narrow-bodied beetles with a distinctive pronotum that is constricted posteriorly and are usually black or dark brown, sometimes with patches of dull red or yellow. Some species (though none that have been recorded so far on Thásos) have a conspicuous pronotal horn. A high proportion of the European species are inhabitants of the coastal fringe, especially on sandy soils, or the margins of rivers. In southern Europe they seem to take the place of rove beetles in such habitats. A few species are associated with compost or straw and as such they have been widely distributed across the holarctic.

There is little information available on the Anthicidae of Thásos. The only  records previously published appear to be those of Karnozickij (1959), who recorded four species in October 1942 and May 1943, and M. & T. Cerruti added Stricticomus longicollis from Krisi Atki in May 1973 (Bucciarelli 1976). My own collecting has added a further four species (plus an unidentified Cyclodinus sp.) to the island list and I am grateful to Dmitry Telnov and Paul Whitehead for the identifications. There will undoubtedly be more species to be found on Thásos,  but there is little available information on the Aegean fauna. Oertzen (1886) lists 50 species for Greece, but there are over a hundred anthicid species recorded from Italy and the Greek list should be comparable. All of the species recorded so far from Thásos are widespread in the Mediterranean area.

The identification of most anthicid species is not straightforward and access to a reference collection is useful. However, there is a good key in the Fauna d'Italia series (Bucciarelli 1980) that covers all of the species likely to be found on  Thásos. This is in Italian but is copiously illustrated. 

CHECKLIST

Anthelephila (Formicomus) pedestris (Rossi, 1790)

Anthicus antherinus (Linnaeus, 1761)

Anthicus ater (Panzer, 1796)

Anthicus fenestratus W.L.E. Schmidt, 1842

Anthicus niger (Olivier, 1811)

Cyclodinus sp.:

Endomia tenuicollis (Rossi, 1792)

Hirticomus hispidus (Rossi, 1792)

Omonadus (Anthicus) floralis (Linnaeus, 1761)

Stricticomus longicollis (W.L.E. Schmidt, 1842)

REFERENCES

Bucciarelli, I. 1976. Su alcuni Coleotteri Anticidi raccolti da M. e T. Cerruti nelle Isole di Creta, Corfu e Thasos, con descrizione di una nuova specie di Microhoria (Coleoptera, Anthicidae). Fragmenta Entomologica, 12: 133-142.

Bucciarelli, I. 1980. Fauna d'Italia: Coleoptera. Anthicidae. Vol 17.

Karnozickij, N. 1959. Materialien zur Koleopteren-Fauna der Agäischen Küste und Insel Thasos. Izv. zool. Inst. Sof., 8: 237-253.

Oertzen, E. v. 1886. Verzeichniss der Coleopteren Griechenlands und Cretas. Berliner Entomolog. Zeitschrift, 30: 189-293.