Pteryx

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Ordo: Coleoptera
Subordo: Polyphaga
Infraordo: Staphyliniformia
Superfamilia: Staphylinoidea

Familia: Ptiliidae
Subfamilia: Ptiliinae
Tribus: Ptiliini
Genus: Pteryx
Synonyms (2): Aderces – Ptiliodina

Species (9): P. balteatum – P. brunneum – P. duvalii – P. franzi – P. ganglbaueri – P. oraniensis – P. perforatum – P. splendens – P. suturalis

In synonymy (6): P. bicolor – P. dimidiatum – P. ferruginea – P. flavicornis – P. mutabilis – P. subtruncata
Name

Pteryx Matthews, 1858

Type species: Pteryx mutabilis Matthews, 1858 [=Trichopteryx suturalis Heer, 1841]

Fixation: monotypy

Pteryx suturalis

References

Matthews, A. 1858. A synonymic list of the British Trichopterygidae. Zoologist 16: 6104–6111. Google books Reference page. [first availability, see p. 6106]

Pteryx is a genus of beetles that is typically found in northern bogs in the Northern Hemisphere. They belong to the family Ptiliidae which is referred to as feather-winged beetles as the hindwings are narrow and feather-like. Like most of the rest of the family, Pteryx are very small and live in rotting vegetative matter. They prefer rotting wood and are generally found under the bark of rotting logs or stumps.

Description

The Pteryx are less than 1 mm in length. They are polymorphic, in that they frequently occur in two forms, a normal variety, and a neonate form that has only vestigial wings, pale body pigmentation, and no pigmentation in their smaller eyes.[2][3][4]
Distribution

Pteryx are found in Eurasia and as far south as the Canary Islands.[5] Pteryx are found in North America from Canada, to as far south as Georgia.[2] Although not restricted to bogs and swamps, they are found more abundantly in those locales.[2]
Notes

"Pteryx franzi Israelson 1976" ION: Index to Organism Names (Thomson Reuters)
Dybas, Henry S. (1978) "The Systematics, and Geographical and Ecological Distribution of Ptiliopycna, a Nearctic Genus: of Parthenogenetic Featherwing Beetles (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae)" The American Midland Naturalist 99(1): pp. 83-100, page 96
"Pteryx" Archived 2011-06-08 at the Wayback Machine The Probert Encyclopaedia
Dybas, Henry S. (1978) "Polymorphism in Featherwing Beetles, with a Revision of the Genus: Ptinellodes (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae)" Annals of the Entomological Society of America 71(5): pp. 695-714

Israelson, Gunnar (1976) "Ptiliolum besucheti n. sp., Pteryx franzi n. sp., and Nephanes euphorbiicola n. sp. from the Canary Islands (Coleoptera: Ptilidae)" Entomologica Scandinavica 7(3): pp. 231-233