The Tenebrionoidea are a very large and diverse

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s. It generally corresponds to the Heteromera of earlier authors.

Taxonomy

Tenebrionoidea contains the following families: *

Aderidae The Aderidae, sometimes called ant-like leaf beetles, are a family of beetles that bear some resemblance to ants. The family consists of about 1,000 species in about 40 genera, of which most are tropical, although overall distribution is worldwid ...

Winkler 1927 (ant-like leaf beetles) *

Anthicidae The Anthicidae are a family of beetles that resemble ants. They are sometimes called ant-like flower beetles or ant-like beetles. The family comprises over 3,500 species in about 100 genera. Description Their heads constrict just in front of ...

Latreille 1819 (ant-like flower beetles) *† Apotomouridae Bao et al. 2018 * Archeocrypticidae Kaszab 1964 *

Boridae The Boridae are a small family of tenebrionoid beetles with no vernacular common name, though recent authors have coined the name conifer bark beetles. The family contains three genera. '' Boros'' is native to North America and northern Eurasia, ...

C. G. Thomson 1859 *

Chalcodryidae The Chalcodryidae are a family of beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea The Tenebrionoidea are a very large and diverse superfamily of beetles. It generally corresponds to the Heteromera of earlier authors. Taxonomy Tenebrionoidea co ...

Watt 1974 *

Ciidae The minute tree-fungus beetles, family Ciidae, are a sizeable group of beetles which inhabit Polyporales bracket fungi or coarse woody debris. Most numerous in warmer regions, they are nonetheless widespread and a considerable number of species ...

Leach 1819 (minute tree-fungus beetles) (= Cisidae) *

Melandryidae Melandryidae is a family of beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea. Members of the family are found worldwide, with around 420 species in 60 genera. Larvae and adults are generally associated with rotting wood and wood-decomposing fungi. Gen ...

Leach 1815 (false darkling beetles) *

Meloidae Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their ...

Gyllenhal 1810 (

blister beetle Blister beetles are beetles of the family (biology), family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematism, aposematica ...

s) *

Mordellidae The Mordellidae are a family of beetles commonly known as tumbling flower beetles for the typical irregular movements they make when escaping predators, or as pintail beetles due to their abdominal tip which aids them in performing these tumblin ...

Latreille 1802 ( tumbling flower beetles) *

Mycetophagidae The Mycetophagidae or hairy fungus beetles are a family of beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea. The different species are between 1.0 and 6.5 mm in length. The larvae and adults live in decaying leaf litter, fungi, and under bark. Most ...

Leach 1815 ( hairy fungus beetles) *

Mycteridae The family Mycteridae is a small group of tenebrionoid beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distingu ...

Blanchard 1845 *

Oedemeridae The family Oedemeridae is a cosmopolitan group of beetles commonly known as false blister beetles, though some recent authors have coined the name pollen-feeding beetles. There are some 100 genera and 1,500 species in the family, mostly associate ...

Latreille 1810 ( false blister beetles) *

Promecheilidae Promecheilidae is a family of beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea. Perimylopidae is considered a synonym. They are found in southern South America and associated archipelagos like South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, Falklands, New Zeala ...

Lacordaire, 1859 *

Prostomidae Prostomidae is a family of beetles with no vernacular common name, though recent authors have coined the name jugular-horned beetles. They are often found in dead wood. The family consist of two extant genera with about 20 species. '' Prostomis a ...

C. G. Thomson 1859 *

Pterogeniidae Pterogeniidae is a family of beetles belonging to the superfamily Tenebrionoidea. They are found in South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Adults and larvae have been found associated with the fruiting bodies of po ...

Crowson 1953 *

Pyrochroidae Fire-coloured beetles is the common name for members of the tenebrionoid family Pyrochroidae. The family is found worldwide, and is most diverse at temperate latitudes. Adults measure ; larvae reach . Larvae of Pyrochroinae are found associated ...

Latreille 1807 ( fire-colored beetles, etc.) *

Pythidae The family Pythidae is a small group of tenebrionoid beetles with no vernacular common name, though recent authors have coined the name dead log bark beetles. There are seven genera, which are largely native to the mid-high latitude regions of t ...

Solier 1834 *

Ripiphoridae Ripiphoridae (formerly spelled Rhipiphoridae) is a cosmopolitan family of some 450 described species of beetles sometimes called "wedge-shaped beetles". Ripiphoridae are unusual among beetle families in that many species are hypermetamorphic p ...

Gemminger and Harold 1870 ( wedge-shaped beetles) (= Rhipiphoridae) *

Salpingidae Salpingidae or narrow-waisted bark beetles is a family of beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea. The species are small, about 1.5 – 7 mm in length. The family is globally distributed and consists of about 45 genera and 300 species, w ...

Leach 1815 ( narrow-waisted bark beetles, etc.) *

Scraptiidae The family Scraptiidae is a small group of tenebrionoid beetles sometimes called false flower beetles. There are about 400 species in 30 genera with a world-wide distribution. The adults are found on flowers, sometimes in large numbers, but are a ...

Mulsant 1856 ( false flower beetles) *

Stenotrachelidae Stenotrachelidae, commonly called false longhorn beetles is a family of beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea. They are native to the Northern Hemisphere. The larvae feed on heavily decomposed wood, while the adults are likely short lived a ...

C. G. Thomson 1859 (false long-horned beetles) (= Cephaloidae) *

Synchroidae The Synchroidae are a small family of tenebrionoid beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguish ...

Lacordaire 1859 *

Tenebrionidae Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae, comprising over 20,000 species in a cosmopolitan distribution. Taxonomy ''Tenebrio'' is the Latin generic name that Carl Linnaeus assigned to some flour beetles ...

Latreille 1802 (

darkling beetle Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae, comprising over 20,000 species in a cosmopolitan distribution. Taxonomy ''Tenebrio'' is the Latin generic name that Carl Linnaeus assigned to some flour beetles ...

s) *

Tetratomidae Tetratomidae is a small family of beetles sometimes called polypore fungus beetles. The family consists of several genera, most of which used to be in the family Melandryidae. Tetratomidae can be found worldwide. Their food consists of fruitin ...

Billberg 1820 *

Trictenotomidae The Trictenotomidae are a small family of beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea, containing fifteen species in two genera. Most species are found in the Oriental realm where they live in montane forest habitats. The family is considered, base ...

Blanchard 1845 * Ulodidae Pascoe 1869 *

Zopheridae Zopheridae is a family of beetles belonging to Tenebrionoidea. It has grown considerably in recent years as the members of two other families are now included (Monommatidae and Colydiidae), as subfamilies or (in the former case) even as tribe ( ...

Solier 1834 ( ironclad beetles,

cylindrical bark beetles Colydiinae is a subfamily of beetles, commonly known as cylindrical bark beetles. They have been treated historically as a family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Af ...

, etc.) The largest family by far is Tenebrionidae, with (as of 2014) approximately 20,000 species and almost two-thirds of the species richness of the superfamily.

Morphology

The Tenebrionoidea show a range of different morphologies. However, one characteristic of most adults is having 5 tarsomeres on the fore- and midlegs, and 4 tarsomeres on the hindleg (tarsal formula 5-5-4). Occasionally, males have tarsal formula reduced to 4-4-4, 3-3-3 or 3-4-4. Larval Tenebrionoidea can be distinguished by various features of the head: a posteriorly diverging gula with well developed gular ridges, posterior tentorial arms being shifted anteriorly, asymmetric mandibles, the M. craniocardinalis vestigial or absent, and the M. tentoriopharyngalis posterior subdivided into several bundles. The body is usually sub-parallel and slightly flattened, but other shapes have evolved to suit different needs, such as cylindrical for boring larvae, strongly flattened for larvae living under bark, and c-shaped and grub-like for larvae with specialised developmental strategies (e.g. post-

triungulin A planidium is a specialized form of insect larva seen in the first-instar of a few families of insects that have parasitoidal ways of life. They are usually flattened, highly Sclerotization, sclerotized (hardened), and quite mobile. The functi ...

larvae of Rhipiphoridae and Meloidae).

Ecology

Many tenebrionoid families are fungus feeders, but there are a wide range of other feeding strategies including feeding on wood or on decaying plant material,

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

-feeding (by many Oedemeridae and Anthicidae), and acting as ectoparasitoids of other insects (Ripiphoridae). A small number of species are predators or feed on living plant tissue. Tenebrionoidea show a particular diversity in arid environments. One adaptation shown by some (e.g. '' Onymacris unguicularis'') is the ability to gather water from fog in order to drink.

References

External links

* * Beetle superfamilies Taxa named by Pierre André Latreille {{Tenebrionoidea-stub