Contribution to the Salpingidae (Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea) of Greece including new faunistic records and ecological data on a poorly studied family

Abstract

Salpingidae are a small family of beetles living mainly under the bark of deciduous forest trees and conifers, feeding on fungi, organic matter and other insects. A total of 23 species are known in the Western Palearctic out of which only six have been recorded in Greece. Material surveys of the first author during the last decades unveil ten species of Salpingidae for the country. Four species, Salpingus ruficollis (Linnaeus, 1760), Sphaeriestes castaneus (Panzer, 1796), Sphaeriestes exsanguis (Abeille de Perrin, 1870) and Vincenzellus ruficollis (Panzer, 1794) are reported from Greece for the first time. These records are presented alongside a literature survey regarding Greek Salpingidae, their overall distribution, ecology, host-plants and conservation status in the country.