Majka, C.G. & A.R. Cline. 2006. New records of Corylophidae (Coleoptera) from the Maritime Provinces of Canada. The Coleopterists Bulletin 60(2): 105-111.

Note: The Corylophidae is a group of very small (0.5-1.8 mm) and relatively little-known beetles. The majority of these “minute hooded beetle” species feed on fungal spores and are associated with decaying materials in a variety of habitats. Although sixty-one species have been recorded on the North American continent, as of 1991, only eleven were known in Canada, and of those a single species had been recorded in the Maritime Provinces (none in Nova Scotia). This paper reports four species newly recorded in Canada, and eight new records for Nova Scotia. Among the records presented by the authors is a specimen of Orthoperus scutellaris found on Sable Island in mid-July 2004. The tiny beetle, collected by Z. Lucas and identified by C. Majka, was on the well-decomposed head of a Harbour Porpoise. The cetacean’s skull was not on the beach, rather it was on inland terrain - sandy, with sparse cover of wild rose, fescue and beach grasses - where it had been placed near a field station building. The skull had been left outside to allow the last of the oils and tissue remnants to “weather away”. The small beetle was found in the company of several other species - representing the Families Anobiidae, Carabidae, Curculionidae, Latridiidae, Nitidulidae and Staphylinidae - all wandering over the oily bone surface, perhaps feeding, or en route to somewhere else.