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''Scarites'' is a genus of
''Scarites'' at Fauna Europaea
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1382657
''Scarites'' is a genus of ground beetle
Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it is one of the 10 most species-rich animal fami ...
native to the Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...
, the Near East, North America and North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...
. There are at least 190 described species in ''Scarites''.
These beetles share physical characteristics of the more tropical stag beetles
Stag beetles are a family of about 1,200 species of beetles in the family Lucanidae, currently classified in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections ...
, but are not closely related. ''Scarites'' can often be found under loose rocks and boards. If touched, they often "play dead" by folding in their legs and arching their backs. The adult beetles are predators and have been observed overpowering mealworms
Mealworms are the larval form of the yellow mealworm beetle, ''Tenebrio molitor'', a species of darkling beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Larvae typically measure about or ...
much larger than themselves.
See also
* List of ''Scarites'' speciesReferences
External links
''Scarites'' at Fauna Europaea
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1382657