ENY 3005 Family Identification

Coleoptera: Passalidae

 Common name: bessbugs, bess beetles, betsy beetles

Identifying characteristics for the family Passalidae include:

• Large (30-40 mm), robust, dark-colored beetle.
• Head with short, distinct medial horn.
• Antennae not elbowed and with 3-segmented club whose lamellae can not be closed.
• Pronotum with median longitudinal groove.
• Distinct gap between the pronotum and elytra.
• Elytra deeply grooved.
• Tarsi 5-5-5.

• Two genera and 3 species in North America.
• The horned passalus, Odontotaenius disjunctus (Illiger), is common throughout eastern North America.
• Adults and scarabaeiform larvae found together in decaying logs.
• Larvae and adults produce sound by stridulating.

References:

• Pages 191-192 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Pages 137-139 in R. E. White. 1983. A Field Guide to Beetles of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 368 p.
• Page 418 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Page 466 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.
• Page 197 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.