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The Chinese species of Phorocardius Fleutiaux, 1931 have been studied and six species are described as new: P. alterlineatus Ruan & Douglas, sp. nov.; P. flavistriolatus Ruan & Douglas, sp. nov.; P. minutus Ruan & Douglas, sp. nov.; P. rufiposterus Ruan & Douglas, sp. nov.; P. yunnanensis Ruan & Douglas, sp. nov.; and P. zhiweii Ruan, Douglas & Qiu, sp. nov. Lectotypes are designated for Cardiophorus comptus Candèze, 1860, Cardiophorus contemptus Candèze, 1860, Phorocardius magnus Fleutiaux, 1931, and Cardiophorus manuleatus Candèze, 1888. The holotype is identified for Cardiophorus yanagiharae Miwa, 1927. Phorocardius florentini (Fleutiaux, 1895) and P. manuleatus (Candèze, 1888) are newly reported from China; P. comptus (Candèze, 1860) is excluded from the Chinese fauna. A key to the 11 Phorocardius species known from China is given. Phorocardius is newly recorded from deep within the Palearctic Region. The procoxal cavities of P. rufiposterus Ruan & Douglas, sp. nov. are closed, which is different from all other species of Phorocardius. An annotated checklist of the 21 Phorocardius species of the world is provided. Additionally, Phorocardius contemptus (Candèze, 1860), comb. nov. is transferred from Cardiophorus to Phorocardius; four species are transferred from Phorocardius to Displatynychus: Displatynychus bombycinus (Candèze, 1895), comb. nov., Displatynychus pakistanicus (Platia & Ahmed, 2016), comb. nov., Displatynychus sobrinus (Laporte, 1840), comb. nov., and Displatynychus tibialis (Platia & Ahmed, 2016), comb. nov.

The beetle fauna of Canada was assessed, including estimates of yet unreported diversity using information from taxonomists and COI sequence clusters in a BOLD (Barcode of Life Datasystems) COI dataset comprising over 77,000 Canadian records. To date, 8302 species of Coleoptera have been recorded in Canada, a 23% increase from the first assessment in 1979. A total of 639 non-native beetle species have become established in Canada, with most species in the Staphylinidae (153 spp.), Curculionidae (107 spp.), Chrysomelidae (56 spp.) and Carabidae (55 spp.). Based on estimates from the taxonomic community and our BOLD dataset, we estimate that slightly more than 1000 beetle species remain to be reported from Canada, either as new records or undescribed species. Renewed enthusiasm toward and financial support for surveys, especially in the central and western provinces of Canada will be critical for detecting, documenting and describing these species. The Barcode of Life database is still far from comprehensive for Canadian Coleoptera but substantial progress has been made and the number of Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) (as candidate species) has reached nearly 70% of the number of species reported from Canada. Comparison of BINs to observed species in a group of Canadian Staphylinidae suggests that BINs may provide a good estimate of species diversity within the beetles. Histeridae is a diverse family in Canada that is notably underrepresented in BOLD. Families such as Mordellidae, Scraptiidae, Latridiidae, Ptiliidae and Scirtidae are poorly known taxonomically in Canada and are represented in our BOLD dataset by many more BINs than recorded species.

A phylogeny is presented for the Elateridae, inferred from parsimony and Bayesian analyses of 175 adult morphological characters. Analyses using non gap-weighted morphological data yielded results compatible with each other and some published classifications, while gap-weighted parsimony analysis did not. Bayesian posterior probabilities for the monophyly of the Elateridae and the elaterid subfamilies Athoinae (sensu Dolin 1975), Cardiophorinae (including Exoeolus Broun), Denticollinae (sensu Stibick 1979a), Elaterinae (sensu Stibick 1979a), Hypnoidinae (sensu Stibick 1976) and Lissominae (sensu Calder et al. 1993) were less than 0.05. The bioluminescent genus Pyrophorus was found to be an apical member of the mostly non-bioluminescent Agrypninae, supporting the hypothesis of at least one independent origin of bioluminescence in the Elateridae. The closest relatives to the Cardiophorinae minus Exoeolus were found in the Negastriinae. The subfamilies Cardiophorinae + Negastriinae + Tropihypnus Reitter together rendered the Hypnoidinae (or the tribe Hypnoidini of Denticollinae) paraphyletic. Lesnelater madagascariensis Fleutiaux (the type species of Lesnelater Fleutiaux) is synonymised under the type species of Pachyelater Lesne: P. madagascariensis (Lesne) so that Lesnelater is a new synonym of Pachyelater. The genus Exoeolus Broun is transferred from the Cardiophorinae to the Hemiopinae; the fossil genus Crioraphes Iablokoff-Khnzorian is transferred to the Elaterinae incertae sedis; the fossil genera Pseudocardiophorites Dolin, and Protocardiophorus Dolin are transferred to Elateroidea incertae sedis. Dolin’s (1976) hypothesis of a Jurassic origin of the Cardiophorinae was not supported by fossil evidence.