Balgus Explained

Balgus is a genus of click beetle (family Elateridae). They are one of several genera in the family which contain at least one bioluminescent species.^[1] The genus was originally placed in the family Eucnemidae, later transferred to Throscidae, but recent classifications establish them firmly within Elateridae.^[2]

List of species

• Balgus albofasciatus (Bonvouloir, 1875)
• Balgus egaensis (Bonvouloir, 1875) [= "eganensis"]
• Balgus eschscholtzi (Laporte, 1835)
• Balgus humilis (Bonvouloir, 1875)
• Balgus obconicus (Bonvouloir, 1875)
• Balgus rugosus (Blanchard, 1843)
• Balgus schnusei (Heller, 1914)
• Balgus subfasciatus (Bonvouloir, 1875)
• Balgus tuberculosus (Dalman, 1823)

Notes and References

1. Costa, C. (1984) Note on the bioluminescence of Balgus schnusei (Heller, 1914) (Trixagidae, Coleoptera). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 28: 397–398.
2. Barbosa, F.F. (2016) Revision and phylogeny of the genus Balgus Fleutiaux, 1920 (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Thylacosterninae). Zootaxa 4083(4): 451–482. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4083.4.1