Movements, Host-Fungus Preferences, and Longevity of Bolitotherus cornutus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)1

Abstract

The forked fungus beetle, Bolitotherus cornutus (Panzer), may live 2 years or more in nature. Adults tend to remain at a given tree for long periods, migration between trees being slight, though movement between different fruiting bodies on the same tree is frequent. In nature, sporophores of the polyporoid fungi Fomes applanatus and Polpyporus tsugae (and occasionally other species) are used as food and breeding sites in Virginia. In laboratory experiments, individuals reared from both these fungus species showed a preference for the latter as food, but the former was eaten more readily than other fungi with which this beetle is not usually associated in nature. Texture, and perhaps age, of the fungus was involved in laboratory choices by the beetles, whereas moisture content was not, at least within the limits tested. There was no significant difference in the number of times F. applanatus and P. tsugae were used as oviposition sites; both these species were preferred to others tested.