The soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are relatively soft-bodied, straight-sided

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s. They are cosmopolitan in distribution. One of the first described species has a color pattern reminiscent of the red coats of early British soldiers, hence the common name. They are also known commonly as leatherwings because of their soft

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

. Historically, these beetles were placed in a superfamily "Cantharoidea", which has been subsumed by the superfamily

Elateroidea The Elateroidea are a large superfamily of beetles. It contains the familiar click beetles, fireflies, and soldier beetles and their relatives. It consists of about 25,000 species. Description Elateroidea is a morphologically diverse group, ...

; the name is still sometimes used as a rankless grouping, including the families Cantharidae,

Lampyridae The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

Lycidae The Lycidae are a family in the beetle order Coleoptera, members of which are commonly called net-winged beetles. These beetles are cosmopolitan, being found in Nearctic, Palearctic, Neotropical, Afrotropical, Oriental, and Australian ecoregions ...

, Omethidae (which includes

Telegeusidae Omethidae is a family of Elateroidea sometimes known as the false soldier beetles. They are native to South, Southeast and Eastern Asia and the Americas. Their biology is obscure and their larvae are unknown. They appear to inhabit vegetation in ...

), Phengodidae, and Rhagophthalmidae. Soldier beetles often feed on both nectar and pollen as well as predating other small insects. The larvae are often active, velvety, often brightly-colored, and they feed on the ground, hunting snails and other small creatures.

Evolutionary history

The oldest described member of the family is '' Molliberus'' from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145& ...

(early

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/ Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0 ...

) aged El Soplao amber from Cantabria, Spain, belonging to the tribe Cantharini in the subfamily Cantharinae. Other described genera include 6 from the early

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

(early

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in ...

) aged

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

, with 5 belonging to Cantharinae and one to Malthininae, and '' Katyacantharis'', from the Cenomanian aged Agdzhakend amber of Azerbaijan, suggested to belong to Cantharinae. Indeterminate specimens have been reported from the

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ag ...

aged Koonwarra fossil bed of the

Strzelecki Group The Halibut Field, is an oil field, within the Gippsland Basin. The oil field is located approximately 64 km offshore of southeastern Australia. The total area of this field is 26.9 km2 and is composed of 10 mappable units. Geologic ...

, Australia and the

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...

aged

Lebanese amber Lebanese amber is fossilized resin found in Lebanon and southwest Syria. It dates back approximately 130-125 million years to the Barremian of the Early Cretaceous. It formed on what was then the northern coast of Gondwana, believed to be a tropica ...

Subfamilies,
tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
and selected genera

Five subfamilies are normally accepted:

Cantharinae

* tribe Cantharini ** '' Cantharis'' ** '' Rhagonycha'' * tribe Podabrini ** '' Podabrus''

Chauliognathinae

* tribe Chauliognathini ** '' Belotus'' ** '' Chauliognathus'' * tribe Ichtyurini ** '' Trypherus''

Dysmorphocerinae

* '' Afronycha'' Wittmer, 1949 - central-southern Africa * '' Asilis'' Broun, 1893 - New Zealand * '' Compsonycha'' * '' Dysmorphocerus'' Solier, 1849 * '' Flabelloontelus'' * '' Geigyella'' Wittmer, 1972 - New Guinea * '' Hansasilis'' * '' Heteromastix'' Boheman, 1858 - Australia * '' Hyponotum'' * '' Micronotum'' * '' Neoontelus'' Wittmer, 1972 - New Zealand * '' Oontelus'' Solier, 1849 - S. America * '' Plectocephalon'' * '' Plectonotum'' Gorham, 1891 -

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

Malthininae

* tribe Malchinini ** '' Macrocerus'' Motschulsky, 1845 - Europe (synonym ''Malchinus'') * tribe Malthinini ** '' Caccodes'' Sharp, 1885 - Central America, Pacific islands ** '' Malthinellus'' Kiesenwetter, 1874 - Japan ** '' Malthinus'' Latreille, 1805 - Japan, Europe, N. America * tribe Malthodini ** '' Frostia'' Bert. ex Guill. ** '' Malthodes'' Kiesenwetter, 1852 - mostly Europe, N. America & New Zealand ** †'' Archaeomalthodes'' Hsiao et al. 2016 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian

Silinae

* tribe Silini ** '' Cordylocera'' Guérin-Méneville, 1830 ** '' Silis'' Charpentier, 1825 * tribe Tytthonyxini ** '' Tytthonyx'' LeConte, 1851

Reproduction

Large males of the soldier beetle exercise choice for larger females. Body size correlates with the abilities of males to secure females, and of females to evade males.

References

External links

Delta key

Keys for the identification of British Cantharidae
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