Carpophilus marginellus Motschulsky, 1858

Species Fact Sheet
Carpophilus marginellus Motschulsky, 1858

Figure 1. Male dorsal and ventral habitus

Diagnosis: Carpophilus marginellus specimens are distinguished from other eastern North American species by having the following combination of features: posterior rim of the mesocoxal cavities smooth (Fig. 5), forming a large axillary space extending halfway down the metepisternal suture (Fig. 5) and the mesosternum bearing a median longitudinal ridge (Fig. 4).

Distribution: Carpophilus marginellus is native to southeast Asia and is now almost cosmopolitan, found in North America, Europe, Northern Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, Africa, and the Oceania region. In North America, it is found throughout the US and in Canada from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan.

Biology: C. marginellus can be found feeding on a variety of fruits, vegetables, flowers, seeds, especially when the are damaged or over ripened (Connell 1956; Leschen and Marris 2005). Known to infest stored food products, including whole and milled grains, and processing plants (Hinton 1945; Gould, 1948; Dobson, 1954). Studied for mass rearing and release in greenhouses to pollinate cherimoya and atemoya (Higuchi et. al 2014). Develops from egg to adult in 26 days at 25°C (Tsukada et al. 2008). Larvae illustrated and described by Hayashi (1978).

References:
Dobson RM (1954) – occurrence in stored products
Gould GE (1984) – occurrence in processing plant
Higuchi H, Tsukada M, Ninomiya T, Furukawa T, Yoshida A, Kuriyama M (2014) – pollination of cherimoya
Hinton HE (1945) – occurrence in whole and milled grains
Hayashi N (1978) – larval description and illustration
Tsukada M, Tanaka D, Higuchi H (2008) – development rates and pollinator potential for cherimoya and atemoya

Double-click on images to enlarge

HOW TO CITE THIS WORK:

DiLorenzo, C.L., G.S. Powell, A.R. Cline, and J.V. McHugh (2021) Carpophiline-ID, a taxonomic web resource for the identification of Carpophilinae (Nitidulidae) of eastern North America. (vers. 01.19.2021) University of Georgia, retrieved from https://site.caes.uga.edu/carpophiline-id/