# Phosphuga

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***Phosphuga*** is a [Eurasian](/source/Eurasia) [genus](/source/Genus) of flightless [carrion beetle](/source/Carrion_beetle), whose [sole member](/source/Monotypic) is the [species](/source/Species) ***Phosphuga atrata***, commonly known as **black snail beetle**. Up to 15mm long, they have an oval shape as adults and are brownish in color when newly moulted, becoming black as their [exoskeleton](/source/Exoskeleton) hardens. Black snail beetles resemble (and are presumably closely related to and sometimes even included in) the type genus *[Silpha](/source/Silpha)* of the carrion beetle [subfamily](/source/Subfamily) Silphinae, and are thus placed in [tribe](/source/Tribe_(biology)) [Silphini](/source/Silphini). Although they range widely, they are seldom encountered by people, because they hunt at night and hide during the day, often under bark.

## Ecology

Adults are flightless, lacking flight muscles, and feed on live [snails](/source/Snail), [insects](/source/Insect) and [earthworms](/source/Earthworm), as well as on [carrion](/source/Carrion). This beetle has an elongated neck that it uses to reach into snail shells, which it sprays with a digestive fluid. When disturbed, they excrete a yellow fluid and retract their head under the shield. The [larvae](/source/Larva) are flattened, black with brown edges to their armor plates, and feed on snails as well. They [pupate](/source/Pupa) in the ground.[1]

Range: Europe (including UK), Russia (European, Siberia, Far East, Kuriles), Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Korea (N,S), Japan, India (Kashmir), China (Heilongjiang+); intro Iceland

## Synonyms

Initially described and sometimes still placed in genus *[Silpha](/source/Silpha)*, the black snail beetle was occasionally even allied with the unrelated [polyphagan](/source/Polyphaga) genus *[Peltis](/source/Peltis)* of the vegetarian [cleroid](/source/Cleroidea) [superfamily](/source/Superfamily_(taxonomy)). Throughout the centuries, specimens from across its vast range have been described numerous times as supposedly distinct species, and at least two subtaxa have been named; none of these are considered distinct today:

- *Peltis (Phosphuga) atrata* var. *rostrata* Reitter, 1888
- *Peltis subparalella* Reitter, 1884
- *Phosphuga atrata subrotundata* Leach, 1817
- *Phosphuga cassidea* Kraatz, 1876
- *Silpha atrata* Linnaeus, 1758
- *Silpha fusca* Herbst, 1793
- *Silpha nitida* Faldermann, 1835
- *Silpha paedemontana* Fabricius, 1775
- *Silpha punctata* De Geer, 1774
- *Silpha shakotana* Kôno, 1929

## References

1. Ikeda, Hiroshi; Kubota, Kohei; Kagaya, Takashi; Abe, Toshio (1 March 2007). ["Flight capabilities and feeding habits of silphine beetles: are flightless species really "carrion beetles"?"](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11284-006-0012-1). *Ecological Research*. **22** (2): 237–241. [doi:10.1007/s11284-006-0012-1](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-006-0012-1). [ISSN 1440-1703](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1440-1703). [S2CID 25955121](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:25955121). Retrieved 3 May 2022.

## External links

- [Pictures of adult and larva](http://popgen.unimaas.nl/~jlindsey/commanster/Insects/Beetles/SpBeetles/Phosphuga.atrata.html)
- [UK Beetles Phosphuga atrata Linnaeus, 1758](https://www.ukbeetles.co.uk/silpha-atrata) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210119170638/https://www.ukbeetles.co.uk/silpha-atrata) 2021-01-19 at the Wayback Machine

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Phosphuga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphuga) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphuga?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.