COLEOPTERA > POLYPHAGA > CUCUJOIDEA > Nitulidae

Alternatively know as Pollen Beetles, Nitulidae is a large, somewhat diverse family of just over 90 species of small to medium-sized (1-8mm), mostly sapoxylic or flower-visiting beetles that superficially resemble members of the Kateretidae.

There are five subfamilies in Britain, which I will investigate further if I photograph more species, but at the moment I've only seen the one currently featured here.

Meligethes atratus is a small, 3-4mm, broadly oval beetle with an entirely dull black body contrasting with pale brown legs and antennae. The head is strongly narrowed in front of small eyes and the antennae are quite short and clubbed. The pronotum has rounded, slightly projecting angles and a narrow lateral margin at the front that tapers in towards the base where the pronotum is at its broadest across the posterior angles. The elytra, which are finely and randomly punctured and without striae, gently curve to separately-rounded, almost truncate apical margins that leave the pygidium exposed. The species is very similar to Meligethes flavimanus, but slightly more elongate and less convex.

The NBN Atlas shows just three records from Dorset and only two for Meligethes flavimanus, both from the same location in 1993.

New family added, June 22 (v.1)