Phellopsis porcata
{{Short description|Species of beetle}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Ironclad Beetle (15208970661).jpg
| image_caption = Phellopsis porcata, adult
| genus = Phellopsis
| species = porcata
| authority = (LeConte, 1853)
}}
Phellopsis porcata is a beetle of the family Zopheridae. Its range includes parts of North America.
Biology
Both adults and larvae feed on fungi, including Piptoporus betulinus (Polyporales) on birch (Betula papyrifera, B. lenta) and Heterobasidion annosum (Bondarzewiaceae) on balsam fir (Abies balsamea).They have also been reported to feed on fungi on western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and on Lentinus (Polyporaceae).{{Cite web|url=https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/6886518|title=Phellopsis porcata (ironclad beetles)|website=Project Noah|access-date=2019-04-26}}{{Cite journal|last1=Foley|first1=Ian|last2=Ivie|first2=Michael|date=2008|title=A revision of the genus Phellopsis LeConte (Coleoptera: Zopheridae)|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d66e/415df091cabd29631bec8517fb998547f38c.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307121540/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d66e/415df091cabd29631bec8517fb998547f38c.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-03-07|journal=Zootaxa|volume=1689|pages=1–28|doi=10.11646/ZOOTAXA.1689.1.1 |s2cid=4503384 }} Adults feed on the surface, while larvae burrow into the substrate
When threatened, adult beetles will use thanatosis (feigning death) to avoid predators. This behavior is known from several other species in the Zopherinae.
Range
References
{{Commons|Phellopsis porcata|Phellopsis porcata}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1380469}}
Category:Beetles of North America
Category:Beetles described in 1853
Category:Taxa named by John Lawrence LeConte
{{Zopheridae-stub}}