Erotylidae

Erotylidae, or the pleasing fungus beetles, is a family of beetles containing over 100 genera. In the present circumscription, it contains 6 tribes (Tritomini, Dacnini, Megalodacnini, Erotylini, Cryptophilini, and Languriini) and 10 subfamilies (Cryptophilinae, Dacninae, Encaustinae, Erotylinae, Languriinae, Loberinae, Megalodacninae, Pharaxonothinae, Tritominae, and Xenoscelinae).[1] In other words, the narrowly circumscribed Erotylidae correspond to the subfamily Erotylinae in the definition sensu lato. There are doubts on the monophyly of lower ranked taxa within Erotylidae, with further phylogenetic studies requiring better sampling and studies of unexplored character sets, for example the metendosternite and penile flagellum, which are generally lacking detailed morphological studies within the Coleoptera literature.[2]

Pleasing fungus beetles
Some pleasing fungus beetles described in the 19th century
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Superfamily:	Cucujoidea
Family:	Erotylidae Latreille, 1802 [1]
Subfamilies
Cryptophilinae Casey, 1900 Dacninae Gistel, 1856 Encaustinae Crotch, 1876 Erotylinae Latreille, 1802 Languriinae Hope, 1840 Loberinae Bruce, 1951 Megalodacninae Sen Gupta, 1969 Pharaxonothinae Crowson, 1952 Tritominae Curtis, 1834 Xenoscelinae Ganglbauer, 1899

Toramus pulchellus

Ischyrus quadripunctatus

Acropteroxys gracilis (tribe Languriini)

Erotylidae feed on plant and fungal matter; some are important pollinators (e.g. of the ancient cycads), while a few have gained notoriety as pests of some significance. Sometimes, useful and harmful species are found in one genus, e.g. Pharaxonotha. Most pleasing fungus beetles, however, are inoffensive animals of little significance to humans.