Prionoceridae is a small family of beetles, in the suborder Polyphaga. The form a group within the cleroid beetles and were formerly treated as a subfamily Prionocerinae within the family Melyridae. Very little is known of their life history but most species are pollen feeders as adults and occur in large numbers during spring or the host flowering season. Larvae are predatory or feed on decomposing wood.
Beetles in the family are elongate with soft elytra. The elytra are often covered with rows of hairs. The margin of the eyes are not round but notched anteriorly. The head faces forward (prognathous) and the clypeal region is produced into a short flat snout. Each of the legs have five tarsi (5-5-4 in the Oedemeridae) with simple claws and a single spur on the pro-tibia. Male Idgia and Prionocerus have a comb on the inner edge of the distal tarsal segment of the foreleg. The genera Nacerdes and Xanthochroa in the family Oedemeridae and some Cantharidae bear resemblance to some of the Prionoceridae.
Members of the family were formerly included as a subfamily within the closely related Melyridae (the genus Lobonyx in Dasytidae). Prionoceridae have been recorded from the middle Jurassic of China (Idgiaites jurassicus) and Eocene Amber from Canada (Prionocerites tattriei).
There are around 150 species in three genera Lobonyx (Mostly Palaearctic), Prionocerus (Palaeotropical) and Idgia (Palaeotropical).
The following is a partial list of the species that have been described (the generic placement and validity are unverified and likely to be out of date) :
Genus Idgia Laporte, 1836
Idgia abdominalis Pic, 1920
Idgia abyssinica Champion, 1919 (Ethiopia)
Idgia amplipennis Pic, 1923
Idgia andrewesi Bourgeois, 1907
Idgia angustata Champion, 1919 (N. Borneo)
Idgia apicalis (Gerstacker, 1871)
Idgia apicata Gorham, 1895 (Singapore)
Idgia arabica (Walker, 1871) (Arabia)
Idgia ardesica Pic, 1908 (China)
Idgia assimilis (Hope, 1831)
Idgia asirensis Wittmer, 1980
Idgia atricornis Pic, 1920
Idgia bagorensis Pic, 1920
Idgia bakeri Pic, 1920
Idgia belli Gorham, 1895 (S. India)
Idgia bimaculata Pic, 1910 (China)
Idgia caeruliventris Champion, 1919
Idgia cavilabris Champion, 1919
Idgia chloroptera Redtenbacher, 1868
Idgia cincta Pic, 1920
Idgia confusa Pic, 1920
Idgia costata Pic, 1920
Idgia costulata Pic, 1941
Idgia curticeps Pic, 1920
Idgia cyanea Pic, 1906
Idgia cyanocephala Champion, 1919
Idgia cyanipennis Pic, 1920
Idgia cyanura Champion, 1919 (Sri Lanka)
Idgia dasytoides Champion, 1919
Idgia decolor Champion, 1919
Idgia deusta Fairmaire, 1878 (China)
Idgia dichroa Champion, 1919
Idgia dimelaena (Walker, 1859)
Idgia dimidiata (Gerstacker, 1871)
Idgia diversiceps Pic, 1925
Idgia dohertyi Pic, 1912
Idgia dubia Gyll., 1808
Idgia elongaticeps Pic, 1923
Idgia femorata Champion, 1919
Idgia flavibuccis Bourgeois, 1892
Idgia flavicollis Redtenbacher, 1878 (China)
Idgia flavirostris Pascoe, 1860 (China)
Idgia flavithorax Pic, 1927
Idgia flavilabris Champion, 1919
Idgia flavolimbata Champion, 1919
Idgia foveifrons Fairmaire, 1900
Idgia fruhstorferi Pic, 1920 (Java)
Idgia fulvicollis Reichenbach, 1849
Idgia geniculata Champion, 1919
Idgia gorhami Pic, 1911
Idgia grandis Pic, 1935 (China)
Idgia granulipennis Pic, 1920 (China)
Idgia griseolineata Pic, 1934
Idgia haemorrhoidalis Pic, 1906 (China)
Idgia hoffmanni Gressitt, 1939 (China)
Idgia huegeli (Redtenbacher, 1868) (China)
Idgia humeralifer Pic, 1920
Idgia incerta Pic, 1920
Idgia indicola Champion, 1919 (Nilgiris)
Idgia iriomoteana Nakane, 1980
Idgia javana Champion, 1919
Idgia laticornis Champion, 1919 (Arabia)
Idgia lineata Pic, 1920
Idgia longicollis Pic, 1925
Idgia longipalpis Champion, 1919 (Ethiopia)
Idgia longipes Pic, 1920
Idgia longissima Pic, 1909
Idgia luteipes Champion, 1919 (Nilgiris)
Idgia luzonica Pic, 1924
Idgia melanocephala (Fabricius, 1781)
Idgia maculicornis Pic, 1925
Idgia maculiventris Champion, 1919
Idgia maindroni Pic, 1909 (Western Ghats)
Idgia major Pic, 1908
Idgia marginata Champion, 1919
Idgia mindanaosa Pic, 1947
Idgia melanura Kollar & Redtenbacher, 1844
Idgia minuta Pic, 1920
Idgia moupinensis Fairmaire, 1889 (China)
Idgia nilgirica Champion, 1919
Idgia nitida Champion, 1919 (Pakistan)
Idgia obscurimembris Pic, 1923
Idgia oculata Redtenbacher, 1868 (China, Vietnam)
Idgia oedemeroides Pic, 1920
Idgia opacipennis Pic, 1920
Idgia pallidicolor Pic, 1906
Idgia parlicularipes Pic, 1920
Idgia particularicornis Pic, 1939
Idgia plectrophora Champion, 1919
Idgia revoili Pic, 1920
Idgia rostrifera Champion, 1919 (Anamalai hills, India)
Idgia rouyeri Pic, 1906
Idgia semitecta Champion, 1919
Idgia stamperi Pic, 1924
Idgia subparallela Pic, 1920
Idgia terminata Cast., 1840
Idgia testaceipes Pic, 1908 (China)
Idgia thibetana (Obenberger, 1918)
Idgia uncigera Champion, 1919
Idgia ungulata Champion, 1919 (China)
Idgia varicornis Champion, 1919
Idgia varipes Champion, 1919
Idgia virescens Champion, 1919 (China)
Idgia viridivittata Champion, 1919
Genus Lobonyx Jacquelin du Val, 1859Lobonyx aeneus (Fabricius, 1787)
Lobonyx gracilis Reitter, 1872
Lobonyx guerryi (Pic, 1920)
Lobonyx thoracicus Majer, 1990
Genus Prionocerus Perty, 1831Prionocerus caeruleipennis Perty, 1831
Prionocerus bicolor Redtenbacher, 1868
Prionocerus paiensis Geiser, 2010
Prionocerus viridiflavus Geiser, 2007
Prionocerus malaysiacus Geiser, 2010
Prionocerus championi Geiser, 2010
Prionocerus opacipennis (Pic, 1920)
Prionocerus wittmeri Geiser, 2010
