Key for the identification of British Monotomidae

The latest checklist has 23 species in three genera and two subfamilies. They are quite small beetles most of which are associated with decaying plant material, either under the bark of dying or dead trees or in compost heaps or similar habitats. Two of our species are associated with ants' nests. The three genera are Rhizophagus and Cyanostolus in subfamily Rhizophaginae and genus Monotoma in subfamily Monotominae. The attached file should enable identification of all the species in Britain. The work by Peacock (1977) now published online by the Royal Entomological Society should be consulted for more detail.