beaver beetle
{{short description|Species of beetle}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Platypsyllus castoris1.jpg
| image_caption =
| status =
| status_system =
| genus = Platypsyllus
| parent_authority = Ritsema, 1869
| species = castoris
| authority = Ritsema, 1869{{cite journal |last=Peck |first=S. B. |title=Distribution and biology of the ectoparasitic beaver beetle Platypsyllus castoris Ritsema in North America (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Platypsyllinae) |journal=Insecta Mundi |date=March–June 2006 |volume=20 |issue=1–2 |page=85 |url=http://journals.fcla.edu/mundi/article/view/25083 |accessdate=8 April 2013 |issn=0749-6737 |quote=...and Platypsyllus Ritsema 1869 with one apparently Holarctic species, ectoparasitic on the two species of Castor. |archive-date=16 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316024147/http://journals.fcla.edu/mundi/article/view/25083 |url-status=dead }}
| synonyms = Platypsyllus castorinus Westwood, 1869
| display_parents = 4
}}
The beaver beetle (Platypsyllus castoris) is an ectoparasitic beetle that is only found on its host species, beavers,{{cite book |editor1-last=Cardé |editor1-first=Vincent H. |editor2-last=Resh |editor2-first=Ring T. |title=Encyclopedia of Insects |year=2009 |publisher=Elsevier/Academic Press |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9780080920900 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Jk0Hym1yF0cC&dq=Platypsyllus+castoris&pg=PA197 197] |edition=2nd |quote=Platypsyllus castoris beetles of the family Leiodidae are specialists on beavers,...}}{{cite book |last=Whitaker |first=John O. |title=National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mammals |year=1996 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-679-44631-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nationalaudubons00whit/page/568 568] |edition=Revised |quote=Beavers are hosts to a unique parasite that lives on the exterior of their bodies—a highly specialized beetle that parasitizes only beavers. |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalaudubons00whit/page/568 }} and the sole member of the genus Platypsyllus. It is flattened and eyeless,{{cite book |last1=Goater |first1=Timothy M. |last2=Goater |first2=Cameron P. |last3=Esch |first3=Gerald W. |title=Parasitism: The Diversity and Ecology of Animal Parasites |edition=2nd |date=2013 |isbn=9780521190282 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=325 |quote=All genera [of Coleoptera, which includes Platypsyllus,] are wingless and are eyeless or have reduced eyes, and are markedly dorsoventrally flattened.}} resembling a flea or tick. It used to be placed in a separate family called Leptinidae, but is now placed in the family Leiodidae, in the subfamily Platypsyllinae.
Description
The beaver beetle has various modifications to suit its ectoparasitic mode of life. It resembles a flea or a louse in appearance and the family Platypsyllidae was originally placed in the flea order Siphonaptera,{{cite journal|title=No title|author=Ritsema, C.|date=1869|journal=Petites Nouvelles Entomologiques|volume=1|page=23|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/44921#page/37/mode/1up}}{{cite journal|title=No title|author=Ritsema, C.|date=1869|journal=Petites Nouvelles Entomologiques|volume=1|page=38|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/44921#page/52/mode/1up}} and one taxonomist treated it as a unique example of a new order of insects.{{cite journal|title=Notice of a new order of hexapod insects|author=Westwood, J.O.|date=1869|journal=Entomologist's Monthly Magazine|volume=6|pages=118–119|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/106953#page/166/mode/1up}} It has no wings and no eyes, and its antennal clubs have the antennomeres numbered 3 to 11 shortened, compacted globularly, and partly enclosed in a scoop-shaped antennomere. The larvae are also ectoparasitic on beavers and have hooks on the three thoracic segments which enable it to cling to its host.
Distribution
The beetle exists only in the northern hemisphere (holarctic) and is restricted to areas in which beavers are found, North America and northern Europe and Asia.
Behaviour
Besides the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) and the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), the only other host on which this beetle has been found is the North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), and this was only on one occasion. It is hypothesized that the otter may have picked up the parasite when it entered a beaver lodge or perhaps killed a young beaver, a thing that otters are believed to do on occasion. Both adult beetles and larvae feed on epidermal tissue, and also perhaps on skin secretions and liquids oozing from wounds. It is possible that the larvae may also act as scavengers in the beaver lodge.
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{cite journal |last=Behrendt |first=Marc |title=Beaver Beetles |journal=Buckeye Trapper |date=July–August 2003 |url=http://www.ohiostatetrapper.org/bt_jul_2003.pdf |accessdate=8 April 2013}}
External links
- [http://www.bugaddiction.com/apps/blog/show/4370264-beaver-beetles Beaver Beetles] by David Moskowitz
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