Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5857 No. 1: 28 Jul. 2026
Type: Article
Published: 2026-07-28
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5857.1.8
Page range: 160-168
Abstract views: 372
PDF downloaded: 20

A new species of the genus Byrsax Pascoe, 1860 from China (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Bolitophagini)

Shaanxi Foping National Nature Reserve Administration; Huangjiawan Street 12; Foping; Hanzhong; Shaanxi; China
College of Life Sciences; Shaanxi Normal University; Xichangan Street 620; Chang’an; Xi’an; Shaanxi; China
Coleoptera Byrsax qinlingensis Qinling Mountains fungivorous beetle

Abstract

Species of the genus Byrsax Pascoe, 1860 are fungivorous beetles. To date, six species have been reported from China. In this study, we describe a new species, Byrsax qinlingensis sp. nov., based on specimens collected from the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province, China. We provide descriptions of both the adult and larval stages, with emphasis on diagnostic characters that distinguish it from similar species. A key to the three species of Byrsax recorded from the mainland of China is also provided.

References

  1. Akita, K. & Masumoto, K. (2012) New or Little-known Tenebrionid Species (Coleoptera) from Japan (12). A Revisional Study of the Genus Byrsax Pascoe (Tenebrionidae, Tenebrioninae, Bolitophagini). Japanese Journal of Systematic Entomology, 18 (1), 57–74.
  2. Ando, K. & Yamasako, J. (2013) Study of Tenebrionid Fauna of Sulawesi. I. Tribes Bolitophagini, Trachyscelini, and Subtribe Heterocheirina of the Opatrini (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae). Elytra, New Series, 3, 275–294.
  3. Ando, K., Itioka, T. & Kishimoto-Yamada, K. (2017) Record of Phototactic Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) from Lambir Hills, Borneo, with description of a new genus and twelve new species. Contributions from the Biological Laboratory Kyoto University, 30 (3), 127–171.
  4. Arunraj, C., Thomas, S.K. & Merkl, O. (2013) Rare fungus feeding Darkling Beetle, Byrsax cornutus Fabricius, 1792 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Bolitophagini) from the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 5 (11), 4608–4611. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3188.4608-11
  5. Bian, L., An, Q., Wang, X., Chen, L. & Han, M. (2023) Diversity of wood-inhabiting macrofungi in the Taihang Mountains, northern China. Mycosystema, 42 (11), 2188–2202. https://doi.org/10.13346/j.mycosystema.230088
  6. Grimm, R. (2014) New and little known species of Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) from Borneo (4). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A, Neue Serie, 7, 183–197.
  7. Grimm, R. & Schawaller, W. (2021) Checklist for the darkling beetles of Borneo (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae s. str.). Integrative Systematics: Stuttgart Contributions to Natural History, 2 (1), 61–82. https://doi.org/10.18476/insy.v02.a5
  8. Iwan, D., Löbl, I., Bouchard, P., Bousquet, Y., Kamiński, M., Merkl, O., Ando, K. & Schawaller, W. (2020) family TENEBRIONIDAE Latreille, 1802. In: Iwan, D. & Löbl, I. (Eds.), Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Volume 5. Tenebrionoidea. Revised and Updated Second Edition. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, pp. 103–641.
  9. Jung, B.H., Kim, S.Y. & Kim, J.I. (2007) Taxonomic review of the tribe Bolitophagini in Korea (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Tenebrioninae). Entomological Research, 37 (3), 190–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5967.2007.00111.x
  10. Kaszab, Z. (1954) Über die von Herrn J. Klapperich in der chinesischen Provinz Fukien gesammelten Tenebrioniden (Coleoptera). Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici, 46 (n.s. 5), 247–264.
  11. Kompantseva, T.V. (1988) Larvae of Bolitophagini (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae). Entomological Review, 67 (2), 141–153.
  12. Masumoto, K. & Makihara, H. (1997) Study on the Tenebrionid beetles in South Sumatra. Bulletin of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 374, 115–153.
  13. Masumoto, K., Akita, K. & Huang, F.S. (2021) Two New Bolitophagini Species (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Tenebrioninae) from Taiwan. Japanese Journal of Systematic Entomology, 27 (1), 125–130.
  14. Miyatake, M. (1970) A revision of the genus Byrsax Pascoe of Japan, with some notes on the Japanese Bolitophagini (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Transactions of the Shikoku Entomological Society, 10 (3–4), 116–126.
  15. Ruzzier, E. (2020) The Tenebrionidae Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) of the Philippines. Part 1. Description of Strongylium purcharti sp. nov. and interesting faunistic records. Zootaxa, 4830 (1), 125–140. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4830.1.5
  16. Ślipiński, A. & Lawrence, J. (Eds.) (2019) Australian Beetles Volume 2: Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga (part). Csiro Publishing, Clayton South, 582–662 pp. https://doi.org/10.1071/9780643097315
  17. Telnov, D. (2023) Genus Byrsax Pascoe, 1860 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea with description of a new species. Acta Biologica Universitatis Daugavpiliensis, 23 (2), 163–172. https://doi.org/10.59893/abud.23(2).004

How to Cite

Zhang, H. & Han, S. (2026) A new species of the genus Byrsax Pascoe, 1860 from China (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Bolitophagini). Zootaxa, 5857 (1), 160–168. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5857.1.8