Overview

The biology of Australian throscids is unknown, but larvae of the European Trixagus dermestoides feed in the soil on ectomycorrhizal fungi on the roots of various trees, and North American throscid larvae have been collected in rotten wood and grass tufts.

Description

Hemiopsida is probably the largest Australian genus, and Galbites is a distinctive Melanesian genus which extends to Cape York. [Cobos 1964; J. C. M. Gardner 1935; Mamaev 1976a; Muona 1987.]

Distribution

The family, defined here in the narrowest sense (see Elateridae), is represented in Australia by Trixagus , Aulonothroscus and Potergus . [Burakowski 1975; Cobos 1961, 1966; Crowson 1961b; Lawrence 1982.]