Introduction. The name of each listed species is followed by up to five sources that report the species as occurring in Michigan. Sources in all upper-case letters refer to specific insect collections: MSU-ARC refers to material held by the Michigan State University Arthropod Research Collection (data provided by G. Parsons). All others refer to collection data extracted from the Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN) database online at https://scan-bugs.org/. See the Methods page for a list of abbreviations and associated collections.
Species names preceded by a single '?' are considered probable (for occurring in Michigan) but uncertain records. Those preceded by '??' are considered possible but unlikely to occur in Michigan. Species that are fully accepted as having valid Michigan records are unmarked. Species reported in the literature that we consider to be erroneous Michigan records are in a separate list following the others.
The higher classification of this family is unsettled. BugGuide follows American Beetles (Arnett et al., 2002) whereas Bouchard (2011) uses a different system. The subfamilies Calochrominae, Erotinae and Platerodinae of Arnett et al. (2002) are all reduced to tribes within Lycinae by Bouchard (2011), but the genus Dictyoptera which Arnett et al. (2002) have in Erotinae has been removed by Bouchard (2011) and placed in the tribe Dictyopterini within a new subfamily Dictyopterinae. In our list, we follow the newer system of Bouchard (2011) for subfamilies.
LYCIDAE
2 subfamilies, 5 tribes, 11 genera, 23 species
Subfamily Dictyopterinae
Tribe Dictyopterini
Dictyoptera aurora (Herbst, 1784): Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Greenarus thoracicus (Randall, 1838): Green (1951), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Subfamily Lycinae
Tribe Calochromini
Calochromus perfacetus (Say, 1825): Green (1950), Peck and Thomas (1998), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Tribe Calopterini
Caenia dimidiata (Fabricius, 1801): Green (1952), Leng (1920), MSU-ARC
Calopteron discrepans (Newman, 1838): Green (1952), Clampitt et al. (1996), MSU-ARC
Calopteron reticulatum (Fabricius, 1775): Clampitt et al. (1996), Hatch (1924), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Calopteron terminale (Say, 1823): Green (1952), Townsend (1889), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Leptoceletes basalis (LeConte, 1847): Green (1952), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Tribe Erotini
Eropterus trilineatus (Melsheimer, 1846): Green (1951), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Leng (1920), MSU-ARC
Eros humeralis (Fabricius, 1801): Green (1951), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Erotides sculptilis (Say, 1835): Green (1951), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Lopheros crenatus (Germar, 1824): Green (1951), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996)
Tribe Platerodini
Plateros batillifer Green, 1953: Green (1953), Downie and Arnett (1996)
Plateros bispiculatus Green, 1953: Green (1953), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Plateros borealis Green, 1953: Green (1953), Downie and Arnett (1996)
?Plateros centralis Green, 1953: Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC; a widespread sp. that probably occurs in MI, but inspection of genitalia is required for positive ID
Plateros flavoscutellatus Blatchley, 1914: Green (1953), MSU-ARC
Plateros floralis (Melsheimer, 1846): Green (1953), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Plateros lictor (Newman, 1838): Green (1953), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
??Plateros modestus (Say, 1835): Andrews (1923), Wolcott (1909), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878) as Eros modestus Say; MI may be north of its range
Plateros peregrinus Green, 1953: Green (1953)
Plateros subfurcatus Green, 1953: Green (1953), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Plateros volatus Green, 1953: Green (1953), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
The following species was also reported from Michigan, but we consider it to be adventive, a misidentification or other error:
Subfamily Lycinae
Tribe Platerodini
Plateros canaliculatus Say, 1835: Townsend (1889), Hatch (1924); Green (1953) says this name could refer to any of several species and we cannot know which
This family list was last updated: January 13, 2023