Summary ²

The Cucujidae, "flat bark beetles," are a family of distinctively flat beetles found worldwide (except Africa and Antarctica) under the bark of dead trees. The family has received considerable taxonomic attention in recent years and now consists of 59 species distributed in four genera.

SoCal Status ³

Known Species per The California Beetle Database .
Cucujus clavipes
Pediacus andrewsi
Pediacus gracilis
Pediacus ommatodon

Species with extreme freezing tolerance ²

Cucujus clavipes puniceus (red flat bark beetle) found in arctic regions like Canada and Alaska desiccates to 30-40% body water in winter vs 4% body water in the chironomid fly, Polypedilum vanderplanki. It uses a variety of anti-freeze proteins in contrast with the non-protein xylomannan exploited by another arctic beetle Upis ceramboides.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Peter Stevens, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/nordique/4668108380/
2. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucujidae
3. (c) BJ Stacey, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

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