Mycetophagus flexuosus Say, 1826

Webster, Reginald P., Sweeney, Jon D. & DeMerchant, Ian, 2012, New Coleoptera records from New Brunswick, Canada: Mycetophagidae, Tetratomidae, and Melandryidae, ZooKeys 179, pp. 215-242 : 216-217

Mycetophagus flexuosus Say, 1826 Map 1

Material examined.

Additional New Brunswick records, Carleton Co., Meduxnekeag Valley Nature Preserve, 46.1907°N, 67.6740°W, 8.VIII.2006, R. P. Webster, mature mixed forest, on partially dried Pleurotus species on dead standing sugar maple (1, RWC); Jackson Falls, Bell Forest, 46.2200°N, 67.7231°W, 26.VI.2007, R. P. Webster, mature hardwood forest, u.v. light (1, RWC); same locality, collector, and forest type, 9.VIII.2005, 13.VIII.2007, on partially dried Pleurotus species on dead standing sugar maple (1, RWC); same locality, collector, and forest type, 4-12.VI.2008, Lindgren funnel trap (1, AFC). Queens Co., Grand Lake near Scotchtown, 45.8762°N, 66.1816°W, 19.IX.2006, R. P. Webster, oak and maple forest, in decayed log covered with gilled mushrooms and polypore fungi (1, RWC); Cranberry Lake P.N.A (Protected Natural Area), 46.1125°N, 65.6075°W, 24.IV-5.V.2009, 12-21.V.2009, R. Webster & M.-A. Giguère, old red oak forest, Lindgren funnel traps (2, AFC). York Co., Charters Settlement, 45.8395°N, 66.7391°W, 9.VII.2006, R. P. Webster, mixed forest, u.v. light (1 RWC); same locality, collector, and forest type, 29.VIII.2007, 21.IX.2007, in pile of moldy corncobs and cornhusks (2, RWC); same locality and collector but 45.8340°N, 66.7450°W, 11.VII.2006, mature mixed forest, on partially dried Pleurotus species on dead standing trembling aspen (1, RWC); 15 km W of Tracy off Rt. 645, 45.6848°N, 66.8821°W, 1-8.VI.2009, R. Webster & M.-A. Giguère, old red pine forest, Lindgren funnel trap (1, AFC); same locality and habitat data but 18.V-2.VI.2010, R. Webster & C. MacKay, Lindgren funnel trap (1, AFC).

Collection and habitat data.

Adults of Mycetophagus flexuosus in New Brunswick were found in hardwood forests with sugar maple ( Acer saccharum Marsh.) and American beech ( Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.), an old red oak ( Quercus rubra L.) forest, mixed forests, and an old (180-year-old) red pine ( Pinus resinosa Ait.) forest. This species was found in partially dried Pleurotus species on dead, standing sugar maples, on a dead, standing trembling aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michx.), in a decayed log covered with gilled mushrooms and polypore fungi, in a pile of moldy corncobs and cornhusks, and at an ultraviolet light. Specimens were also captured in Lindgren funnel traps at several localities. Cline and Leschen (2005) reported Mycetophagus flexuosus from the oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus Fries. Other fungal associations with this species were reported in Majka (2010). Adults in New Brunswick were collected during April, May, June, July, August, and September.

Distribution in Canada and Alaska.

MB, ON, QC, NB ( Bousquet 1991; Majka 2010). Makja (2010) reported this species for the first time from New Brunswick and the Maritime provinces based on two specimens collected in Edmundston (Madawaska Co.) by Richard Migneault. The above records indicate that this species in not uncommon and is probably widespread in New Brunswick.