Pleasing Fungus
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Pleasing fungus beetles feed on the fruiting bodies of fungi. A wide variety of fungi serves as hosts for the family as a whole, but each pleasing fungus beetle species seems to be specific to a certain group of fungi. The species with larger individuals, such as Megalodacne spp., feed in the harder bracket fungi (Ganoderma spp.) found on dead trees and stumps. Common Triplax spp. feed on oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus spp.) which grow on dead logs. Tritoma spp. feed on mushrooms growing from dead roots and logs, while members of Pseudischyrus and other Tritoma spp. feed on fungi that have mycorrhyzal associations with living tree roots. These mushrooms include brittlegill mushrooms (Russula spp.) and deathcap mushrooms (Amanita spp.). McKnight and McKnight (1987) is useful in mushroom recognition.
As with most insects that depend on ephemeral food sources, the larval stage generally passes quickly: two weeks from egg to pupa is not uncommon. The sluggish larvae are only found associated with the mature host fruiting body. Adults are often found on the host fungus in large numbers with the larvae. However, adults are also found away from the host. When conditions are unfavorable for the host fungi to fruit, adults often congregate under bark or in other hiding places. The causal factors and mechanisms which lead to these aggregations are unknown.