Silphidae
Creators: name: Mullins, Patricia L.
name: Riley, Edward G.
name: Oswald, John D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Silphidae

description: Key to the adult Silphidae of Texas
1 Elytra shorter, truncate, exposing 3 or 4 abdominal terga, usually with irregular red or orange maculae (Figs. 24–30); fifth abdominal tergum with stridulatory files; head with epistomal suture present (Fig. 1); second antennomere small, indistinct, hidden in tip of first antennomere (Fig. 2). (Nicrophorinae: Nicrophorus)........................................ 7
- Elytra longer, usually not truncate, at most exposing 1 or 2 abdominal terga, usually without large colored maculae (Figs. 18– 23); fifth abdominal tergum lacking stridulatory files; head with epistomal suture absent (Fig. 3); second antennomere distinct, not hidden in tip of first antennomere (Fig. 4). (Silphinae).................................................... 2
2(1-) Pronotum widest toward base (Fig. 6); elytra immaculate; hind femur of male not swollen and without spines............. 3
- Pronotum orbicular, widest toward middle (Fig. 5); elytra with small red maculae before apex; hind femur of male swollen, with one or two spines. Habitus: Fig. 19 ......................................... Necrodes surinamensis (Fabricius)
3(2) Head with a row of long erect hairs behind eyes; elytral disc with rugose to rugulose sculpturing, at least distally, and with dis- tinct costae (Figs. 18, 20–22)........................................................................... 4
- Head without a row of long erect hairs behind eyes; elytral disc smooth, without costae. Habitus: Fig. 23 .............................................................................................. Thanatophilus truncatus (Say)
4(3) Elytral epipleuron without aeneous luster or short golden hairs; pronotum entirely black, or with a black median macula and red-orange margins; elytral disc distally with weak rugulose sculpturing (Figs. 20–22). (Oiceoptoma).................. 5
- Elytral epipleuron with aeneous luster and short golden hairs; pronotum with a black median macula and yellow margins; ely- tral disc uniformly rugose. Habitus: Fig. 18 ....................................... Necrophila americana (Linnaeus)
5(4) Pronotum entirely black (Figs. 20, 22).................................................................... 6
- Pronotum black with red-orange margins. Habitus: Fig. 21 ........................ Oiceoptoma noveboracense (Forster)
6(5) Elytral epipleuron wide in posterior half (Fig. 7), with upper oblique portion twice width of lower vertical portion; elytral inter- vals distally with weak rugulose sculpturing. Habitus: Fig. 20 ........................ Oiceoptoma inequale (Fabricius)
- Elytral epipleuron narrow in posterior half (Fig. 8), with upper oblique portion approximately equal in width to lower vertical portion; elytral intervals distally with weak to strong rugulose sculpturing. Habitus: Fig. 22 ...................................................................................................... Oiceoptoma rugulosum Portevin
7(1) Pronotum with anterior transverse impression, lateral margins not exceptionally narrow (Fig. 10); elytral epipleuron wide.. 8
- Pronotum without anterior transverse impression, lateral margins extremely narrow (Fig. 9); elytral epipleuron narrow. Habi- tus: Fig. 25 ................................................................ N icrophorus carolinus (Linnaeus)
8(7) Frons and pronotal disc black; tarsal empodium bisetose (Fig. 12).............................................. 9
- Frons and pronotal disc red (Fig. 10); tarsal empodium quadrisetose (Fig. 11). Habitus: Fig. 24 ..................................................................................................... Nicrophorus americanus Olivier
9(8) Pronotum glabrous, or with sparse hairs on anterior or lateral margins............................................ 10
- Pronotum with dense yellow pubescence. Habitus: Fig. 30 ............................ Nicrophorus tomentosus Weber
10(9) Posterior lobe of metepimeron glabrous or with dark hairs (or only a few yellow hairs) (Fig. 15); pronotum variable (Figs. 16– 17)............................................................................................... 11
- Posterior lobe of metepimeron covered with dense yellow pubescence (Fig. 13); pronotum cordate, widest anteriorly (Fig. 14). Habitus: Fig. 26 ............................................................ Nicrophorus marginatus Fabricius
11(10) Dorsal surface of elytra without long hairs (Fig. 13); epipleural ridge extended almost to humeral callus................ 12
- Dorsal surface of elytra with long fine hairs, especially laterally (Fig. 15); epipleural ridge obliterated well before humeral cal- lus. Habitus: Fig. 29 .............................................................. Nicrophorus orbicollis Say
12(11) Epipleuron entirely black; dorsal elytral maculation inconspicuous. Habitus: Fig. 28 ....... Nicrophorus pustulatus Herschel
- Epipleuron mostly orange with anterior black macula; dorsal elytral maculation conspicuous. Habitus: Fig. 27 ...................................................................................... Nicrophorus mexicanus Matthews
description: Published as part of Mullins, Patricia L., Riley, Edward G. & Oswald, John D., 2013, Identification, distribution, and adult phenology of the carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) of Texas, pp. 221-251 in Zootaxa 3666 (2) on pages 223-224, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3666.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/220054