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.
In spite of Marshall (1951) saying Pseudebaeus (now Hypebaeus) oblitus is merely a dark color phase of apicalis, BugGuide continues to recognize both and says apicalis is only in the SE. GBIF recognizes only apicalis. In this case we have followed GBIF and Marshall, and are calling the Michigan specimens H. apicalis.
MELYRIDAE
2 subfamilies, 2 tribes, 8 genera, 18 species
Subfamily Dasytinae
Tribe Dasytini
Psilothrix foveicollis (Kirby, 1837): Ruesink and Parsons (2023), MSU-ARC; a northern species
Subfamily Malachiinae
Tribe Malachiini
Anthocomus equestris (Fabricius, 1781): Ruesink and Parsons (2023), BugGuide, MSU-ARC
Attalus frosti Marshall, 1951: Haack and Ruesink (2020), MSU-ARC
??Attalus humeralis LeConte, 1866: Hubbard and Schwarz (1878) as Attalus Pettiti Horn; known from IL & OH, MI record needs confirmation
?Attalus nigrellus (LeConte, 1852): Downie and Arnett (1996), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878); a far northern sp., not sure it should be in MI
Attalus pallifrons (Motschulsky, 1859): Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Ruesink and Parsons (2023), MSU-ARC
Attalus scincetus (Say, 1825): Ruesink and Parsons (2023), MSU-ARC
Attalus terminalis (Erichson, 1840): Marshall (1951), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Attalus zebraicus Blatchley, 1914: Marshall (1957)
Collops quadrimaculatus (Fabricius, 1798): Haack and Ruesink (2020), Andrews (1916), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Collops vittatus (Say, 1823): Fall (1912), Andrews (1923), Hatch (1924), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Hypebaeus apicalis (Say, 1825): Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC; our northern color form used to go under the name H. oblitus, and BugGuide still includes this name
Hypebaeus bicolor (LeConte, 1852): Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Malachius aeneus (Linnaeus, 1761): Ruesink and Parsons (2023), BugGuide, MSU-ARC; odd that we find no other published mention of this species in MI
?Malachius ulkei Horn, 1872: BugGuide, iNaturalist Observations; based on a 2017 photo of a specimen near Big Rapids (Mecosta Co.)
Nodopus erichsonii (LeConte, 1852): Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Ruesink and Parsons (2023), MSU-ARC; a poorly known sp.
Nodopus flavilabris (Say, 1825): Andrews (1916), Ruesink and Parsons (2023), MSU-ARC
Temnopsophus bimaculatus Horn, 1872: Marshall (1957), Downie and Arnett (1996), BugGuide, MSU-ARC
The following species was also reported from Michigan, but we consider it to be adventive, a misidentification or other error:
Subfamily Malachiinae
Tribe Malachiini
Attalus morulus (LeConte, 1852): Hubbard and Schwarz (1878); Marshall (1951) says eastern records for this sp. are instead A. greeni or A. frosti
This family list was last updated: January 19, 2023