title: Zopherinae
text: # Zopherinae
  
  Zopherinae is a subfamily of beetles, commonly known as ironclad beetles. Together with the subfamily Usechinae, they have been treated historically as a family, but have recently been joined by several additional taxa, making the Zopheridae a much larger composite family, and the Zopherinae are now only a small component within it, consisting of seven genera in the tribe Zopherini and one, Phellopsis in its own tribe (Phellopsini).
  
  These beetles are apparently fungivores and associated with rotting wood, and as the common name implies, have one of the hardest of all arthropod exoskeletons; in some species, it is almost impossible to drive an insect pin through their bodies without using a small drill to make a hole first.
  
  When disturbed, ironclad beetles play dead.
  
  Some species in the genus Zopherus in Mexico are decorated with costume jewelry glued to their bodies, and sold as living brooches, known as ma'kech.
  
  ## Selected species
  
  * Genus Phellopsis LeConte, 1862
  
      Phellopsis montana Casey, 1907
      Phellopsis obcordata (Kirby, 1837)
      Phellopsis porcata
      Phellopsis robustula Casey, 1907
  * Genus Nosoderma Solier, 1841
  
      Nosoderma aequale
      Nosoderma diabolicum (LeConte, 1851)
      Nosoderma exsculptum
      Nosoderma guatemalense
      Nosoderma inaequale
      Nosoderma plicatum (LeConte, 1859)
      Nosoderma sylvaticum
      Nosoderma zunilense
  * Genus Zopherus Laporte, 1840
  
      Zopherus championi Triplehorn, 1972
      Zopherus chilensis
      Zopherus concolor LeConte, 1851
      Zopherus elegans Horn, 1870
      Zopherus gracilis Horn, 1867
      Zopherus granicollis Horn, 1885
      Zopherus jansoni
      Zopherus jourdani
      Zopherus laevicollis
      Zopherus nervosus
      Zopherus nodulosus Solier, 1841
      Zopherus opacus Horn, 1867
      Zopherus sanctaehelenae (Blaisdell, 1931)
      Zopherus tristis LeConte, 1851
      Zopherus uteanus (Casey, 1907)
      Zopherus xestus Triplehorn, 1972
  