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Cave Biology Data Portal
Subterranean biodiversity of North America and around the globe
AnimaliaArthropodaHexapodaInsectaColeopteraLeiodidaePrionochaeta

Small Carrion Beetle
Prionochaeta opaca (Say, 1825)

Taxonomy

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Hexapoda
Class Insecta
Order Coleoptera
Family Leiodidae
Genus Prionochaeta
Species Prionochaeta opaca (Say, 1825)

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class
Troglophile
Realm
Terrestrial

Distribution

Range

Known from 23 counties across nine states.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee

Counties

Alabama
Blount, Calhoun, Conecuh, DeKalb, Jackson, Madison, Marshall, Morgan
Florida
Jackson
Georgia
Chattooga, Walker
Illinois
Monroe
Indiana
Orange
Kentucky
Carter
Missouri
Oregon, Ozark, Shannon, St. Louis
North Carolina
Madison
Tennessee
Clay, Jackson, Marion, Montgomery

Conservation and management

NatureServe

G5 Secure

G1G2G3G4G5▲

National ranks

Canada
N5 Secure
United States
NNR

Subnational ranks

Manitoba
S3 Vulnerable
Prince Edward Island
SU Unrankable
Nova Scotia
S5 Secure
Quebec
SNR Unranked
Ontario
S4 Apparently Secure
New Brunswick
S4 Apparently Secure
Alabama
SNR Unranked
Indiana
SNR Unranked
Virginia
SNR Unranked
RI
SNR Unranked

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

References

  • Franz, R., Bauer, J. & Morris, T. 1994. Review of biologically significant caves and their faunas in Florida and south Georgia. Brimleyana 20: 1–109. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/229726.
  • Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1979. Caves and associated fauna of Eastern Kentucky, Volume 3. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 130 pp.
  • Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2007. A biological reconnaissance of selected caves in the Highland Rim area of central Tennessee. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 42 pp.
  • Lewis, J.J. 2009. Eight new cavernicolous species of the milliped genus Pseudotremia (Diplopoda: Chordeumatida: Cleidogonidae). In: Roble, S.M. & Mithcell, J.C. (eds), A Lifetime of Contributions to Myriapodology and the Natural History of Virginia: A Festschrift in Honor of Richard L. Hoffman’s 80th Birthday. Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 16, pp. 171–186. Virginia Museum of Natural History, Martinsville, Virginia, USA.
  • Lewis, J.J., Whitaker, J.O. & Krantz, G.W. 2010. A biological reconnaissance of the invertebrate fauna of twelve Tennessee caves with notes on the guanophilic mites of the genus Macrocheles. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 85: 53–61.
  • Peck, S.B. 1970. The terrestrial arthropod fauna of Florida caves. The Florida Entomologist 53: 203–207. doi:10.2307/3493189
  • Peck, S.B. 1988. A review of the cave fauna of Canada, and the composition and ecology of the invertebrate fauna of caves and mines in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66: 1197–1213. doi:10.1139/z88-176
  • Peck, S.B. 1995. The cave fauna of Alabama. Part II: The insects. National Speleological Society Bulletin 57: 1–19.
  • Peck, S.B. & Cook, J. 2002. Systematics, distributions and bionomics of the small carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae: Cholevini) of North America. The Canadian Entomologist 134: 723–787. doi:10.4039/Ent134723-6
  • Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Prionochaeta opaca (Say, 1825). Cave Biology Data Portal, account SP-1944. https://cavebiology.org/species/prionochaeta-opaca/ (accessed 7 September 2026).

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

Spotted something wrong on this page? Report a correction. Accounts are compiled from many sources and corrections from people who know the group are the most useful email we get.

Cave Biology Data Portal

Species accounts, distributions, and conservation status for the subterranean fauna of North America and around the globe, with resources for the cave and karst research community.

Text and data CC BY 4.0. Images all rights reserved unless stated.

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