60 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROC. (1951), VOL. 48, AUG. 15, 1952 NOTES ON SOME PTINIDAE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (COLEOPTERA)l J. H. FOLLWELL2 Stored Product Insect Laboratory, Vancouver, B.C. The writer has made observations Downes (Brown, 1940). Spencer during the past year and a half on (1942) reported that it was sent to insects infesting stored products in him in 1926 from Prince Rupert, flour warehouses, feed mills, grain where it was infesting fish meal on a eleva tors, and other food storage or wha rf "in the thousands." [n Canada food processing plants in British Col­ this species appears t o be restricted umbia. One of the most important very largely to the coastal regions. groups of insects found in such places It is widely distributed throughout are the P tinidae, or spider beetles. British Columbia, including Vancouver This paper deals with the insects be­ Island, and was found in 43 per cent. long ing to this group. of the places visited. Due t o the mild Spider beetles a re important pests clima te this species is active through­ of cereal products and seeds in storage out the year in this area. in Canada. They attack practically P. ocellus is a pest of considerable all types of cereal and a nimal feeds. economic importance in many pa rts Most of the species found in Canada of the world. Hinton (1941) stated are able to survive the winter in pro­ tha t it is the most generally distribut­ tected habita ts. The adults of some ed of the warehouse pests in Great species are very prolific and the fe­ Britain, having become established males frequently oviposit through the there in 1901. It is also a pest of mesh of cotton sacks (Gray, 1933). major importance in Germany and The la rvae complete their development several other European countries. It within the food material in approxim­ has been reported from a variety of ately two to three months at summer products, including cayenne pepper, temperatures. When mature, the chocolate powder, desiccated soup, larvae frequently leave the food pro­ cacao, nutmegs, almonds, ginger, figs. duct and burrow into the timbe rs of sult:lnas, dried pears, dried apricots, the warehouse before pupation. The beans, rye, fish food, maize ( H a tch, scarring produced by the larvae is 1933 ), and fish meal (Brown, 1940) . positive evidence of previous spider The writer has found it infesting beetle infestation (Gray, 1942). pastry fl our, fish meal, turkey starter, Hinton (1941) recorded 21 species calf meal, and mixtures of oats, [)fClI1, of Ptinidae as pests, most of these fl ax, rye, and wheat. The writer has ca using damage to stored products of successfullv reared this species on various kinds. Manton (1945) report­ nearly all- of the above mentioned ed that 15 species had been recorded products in the Vancouver laboratory in the British Isles as infesting stored a nd on a mixture of ""hole wheat products or as present in buildings fl our and brewers' yeast. where such products a re normally The writer, in test work, has found kept. The writer has found 11 species that the larvae can complete their in British Columbia, t en determined, development on relatively sm a II and one uncertain. amounts of food. When food is lack­ ing the larvae eat their excreta and Ptinus ocellus Brown [=P. tectus the glandular material used in the auct.], the Australian spider beetle, formation of t he pupal cells (Gunn is the most widespread and abundant and Knight, 1945). Both larvae and of the ptinids in British Columbia. In the adults can survive for a long time British Columbia this species was first reported from Victoria in 1927 by W. without access to w a ter if the moist · ure content of the food is reasonably 1 Contribution No. 2909, Division of E ntomolo!rY, high. However, under laboratory Science Service, Department of Agriculture, Canada. 2 Officer·in·Charge. conditions, eggs are not produced by ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH .COlUMBIA, PROC. (1951), VOL. 48, AUG, 15, 1952 61 the adults if free water is not a vail­ The writer found Trigonogenills glob­ able (Ewer and Ewer, 1942). The ulus Solier, the globular spider beetle, writer has also found this to be true. infesting three warehouses in Van­ Plinlls fur (L.), the white-marked couver a nd one in Victoria. Great spider beetle, ranks second in im­ numbers were found in Victoria, and portance in British Columbia. It is in one of the warehouses in Vancouver widely distributed t hroughout Canada, a hea vy infestation was encountered but seems to be more abundant in on sacks containing cracked corn. British Columbia than in the other Brown (1940) reported that the species provinces (Brown, 1940). In the is confined largely to the Pacific United States this species was first region of North America. It has been reported in 1869 and losses were reared in the Vancouver laboratory recorded in fl our in Canada as early on the same medium as P. ocellus. as 1893 (Gray, 1942). This species In British Columbia E1I1'OStus hiller; fe eds on a variety of dried and decay­ (Reit.) [=E. alienus Brown] w as found ing animal and vegetable ma tter. in first by H. E. Gray at Kamloops in this Province, P. ftl l' has been found 1939 (Brown, 1940). During the past in 11.7 per cent. of the establishments year the writer found it in small inspected, usually in associ ation with numbers in two warehouses: one in P. ocellus. This species has also been Victoria and one in Vancouver. rea red in the Vancouver labora torv H inton (1941) recorded it only in on whole wheat flour and brewers' J apan, Great Britain, and Canada. yeast. According to Manton (1945) it has The species that follow have been become established in England in found on only a few occasions and recent years and appea rs to feed main­ are not widely distributed in British ly, if not entirely, on rat and mouse Columbia. Ptinus raptor Sturm is droppings. Where the writer found thought to be of European origin and this insect, no appreciable amounts of is now almost world-wide in distribu­ droppings were visible. It has been tion (Hinton, 1941). In Canada it reared in the Vancouver labora tory in was first taken at St. Peters, Nova small numbers on whole wheat flour Scotia, in 1930 by M. L. Prebble and brewers' yeast. On this medium (Brown, 1940) . Later Gray (1942) the time required for development for found t hat this species was the most E. hiller; is similar to that for P. ocellus. abundant spider beetle in the ware­ H owe (1949) reported that the houses of Nova Scotia, New Bruns­ fertility of this species is very low, wick, and much of Ouebec. This less than SO eggs per female being species was found by the w riter in­ laid in the laboratory. Results in the fe sting flo ur in warehouses at Nelson, Vancouver laboratory confirm Howe's Vancouver, and Victoria. findings. This insect is not likely to become a serious pest in this province. In Canada Ptintts tlillig-er (Reit.), the hairy spider beetle, was taken first in Ptil1NS bicincttls Sturm was recorded Manitoba in 1915, is well established by Hinton (1 941) from Europe, North in the Prairie Provinces, and also A frica, and North America. It was taken by the writer in association occurs in Ontario and Quebec and to with P. fur at Rossland, B.C., in June, a lesser extent in the Maritime Pro­ 1950, infesting fl our in a warehouse. vinces (Gray, 1933 ). The losses to According to Brown (1 940), it is rarely cereal products caused by this spider taken on this continent and the cap­ bee tle far exceed those hy any other ture reported here appears to be the member of the group (Gray, 1942). first record of P. bicinctus in British In British Columbia this species was Columbia. It has been found previous­ first reported in 1933. The writer ly in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and found it at three scattered points in Nova Scotia (Brown, 1940). 195 0: Rossland, Creston, and Van­ Specimens of Niptus hololetlcus couver. (FaId.), the golden ,spider beetle, were • 62 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROC. (1951), VOL. 48, AUG. 15, 1952 found by the writer in four Van­ Hinton (1941) reported the distribu­ couver warehouses. Spencer (1942) tion of M. affine as being restricted to reported that this species was found Europe and North Africa. Brown by H. B. Leech in 1936 at Fernie, B.c. (1944) recorded that it occurred in Brown (1940) reported that it had the United States as early as 1904 and been taken in Nova Scotia, New is convinced that all specimens from Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Al­ Canada that have been recorded as of berta, and at Fernie and Victoria in M. americanum (Lap.) should be referred British Columbia. Hinton (1941) to as M. affine Boiel. The latter recorded it as nearly cosmopolitan species is found in northeastern Unit­ but absent in the tropics. It has been ed States as well, whereas M. ameri­ a pest of importance in Europe for canum has a more southern distribu­ some time. tion, being recorded from Texas and Ptinus latro Fab. has been taken by Florida. the writer on three occasions. The Spencer (1942) also reported having exact locality of specimens taken in taken S phaericus gibboides (Boiel.) in 1950 is uncertain, but others were British Columbia and rearing it suc­ found in 1951 in warehouses in Van­ cessfully in the laboratory.