Overview
Adults and larvae are primarily mycophagous and may be found in rotten wood or associated with fungus fruiting bodies.
Description
Oblong to ovate, somewhat flattened beetles, uniformly brown or with yellow maculae on elytra, and densely pubescent. Eyes relatively large and coarsely facetted; frontoclypeal suture present or absent; tibial spurs often well developed and serrate; fore tarsi modified in male.
Larvae elongate and parallel-sided, slightly flattened and moderately sclerotised dorsally, with well-developed legs and slightly curved, simple urogomphi, which are more or less approximate at base.
Distribution
Several endemic
Litargus
are known from Australia, and three introduced species,
Litargus balteatus
,
Mycetophagus quadriguttatus
and
Typhaea stercorea
, occur in stored foodstuffs affected by mould. [Aitken 1975; Hinton 1945a; Lawrence 1987b.]