The rove beetles are a large family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. With over 46,000 species in thousands of genera, the group is the second largest family of beetles after the Curculionidae (the true weevils). It is an ancient group, with fossil rove beetles known from the Triassic, 200 million years ago.
One well-known species is the Devil's coach horse beetle. For some other species, see List of British rove beetles.
As might be expected for such a large family, there is considerable variation among the species. Sizes range from 1 to 35 mm (1.5 inches), with most in the 2?8 mm range, and the form is generally elongate, with some rove beetles being ovoid in shape. Colors range from yellow to reddish-brown to brown to black. The antennae are usually 11 segmented and filiform, with moderate clubbing in some genera. The abdomen may be very long and flexible, and some types of rove beetles superficially resemble earwigs.
Some members of Paederina, a subtribe of Paederinae, contain a potent vesicant in their haemolymph which can produce a skin irritation called Paederus dermatitis.[1] The irritant pederin is highly toxic, more potent than cobra venom.[2]
Rove beetles are known from every type of habitat that beetles occur in, and their diets include just about everything except the living tissues of higher plants. Most rove beetles are predators of insects and other kinds of invertebrates, living in forest leaf litter and similar kinds of decaying plant matter. They are also commonly found under stones, and around freshwater margins. Several types are known to live on ocean shores that are submerged at high tide, including the pictured rove beetle;[3] other species have adapted to live as inquilines in ant and termite colonies, and some live in mutualistic relationships with mammals whereby they eat fleas and other parasites, benefiting the host. A few species, notably those of the genus
Aleochara, are parasitoids of other insects, particularly of certain fly pupae.
Although rove beetles' appetites for other insects would seem to make them obvious candidates for biological control of pests, and empirically they are believed to be important controls in the wild, experiments with using them have not been notably successful. Greater success is seen with those species (genus Aleochara) that are parasitoids.
Rove beetles of the genus Stenus are very interesting insects. They are specialist predators of small invertebrates such as collembola. Their labium can shoot out from the head using blood pressure. The thin rod of the labium ends in a pad of bristly hairs and hooks and between these hairs are small pores that exude an adhesive glue-like substance, which sticks to prey.[4]
Classification of the 46,27
5 (as of 1998) staphylinid species is ongoing and controversial, with some workers proposing an organization of as many as ten separate families, but the current favored system is one of 31 subfamilies, about 100 tribes (some grouped into supertribes), and about 3,200 genera. About 400 new species are being described each year, and some estimates suggest 3/4 of tropical species are as yet undescribed.
Rove beetles are known from every type of habitat that beetles occur in, and their diets include just about everything except the living tissues of higher plants. Most rove beetles are predators of
insects and other kinds of invertebrates, living in forest leaf litter and similar kinds of decaying plant matter. They are also commonly found under stones, and around freshwater margins. Several types are known to live on ocean shores that are submerged at high tide, including the pictured rove beetle;[3] other species have adapted to live as inquilines in ant and termite colonies, and some live in mutualistic relationships with mammals whereby they eat fleas and other parasites, benefiting the host. A few species, notably those of the genus Aleochara, are parasitoids of other insects, particularly of certain fly pupae.
Although rove beetles' appetites for other insects would seem to make them obvious candidates for biological control of pests, and empirically they are believed to be important controls in the wild, experiments with using them have not been notably successful. Greater success is seen with those
species (genus Aleochara) that are parasitoids.
Rove beetles of the genus Stenus are very interesting insects. They are specialist predators of small invertebrates such as collembola. Their labium can shoot out from the head using blood pressure. The thin rod of the labium ends in a pad of bristly hairs and hooks and between these hairs are small pores that exude an adhesive glue-like substance, which sticks to prey.[4]
Classification of the 46,275 (as of 1998) staphylinid species is ongoing and controversial, with some workers proposing an organization of as many as ten separate families, but the current favored system is one of 31 subfamilies, about 100 tribes (some grouped into supertribes), and about 3,200 genera. About 400 new species are being described each year, and some estimates suggest 3/4 of tropical species are as y
et undescribed.
^ Capineira, John L (2008). "Dermatitis linearis". Encyclopedia of entomology. Springer. pp. 1179?. ISBN 978-1-4020-6242-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=i9ITMiiohVQC. "The 28 species thus far shown to produce such a toxin belong to three of the 14 genera of Paederina, namely Paederus, Paederidus, and Megalopaederus"
^ P. C. Craig (1970). "The behavior and distribution of the intertidal sand beetle, Thinopinus pictus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)". Ecology51 (6): 1012?1017. doi:10.2307/1933627. JSTOR 1933627.
^ Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press.
Ross H. Arnett, Jr. and Michael C. Thomas, American Beetles (CRC Press, 2001), vol. 1
For the Palaearctic Fauna the most up to date works are:
Lohse, G.A. (1964) Familie: Staphylinidae. In: Freude, H., Harde, K.W. & Lohse, G.A. (Eds.), Die K?fer Mitteleuropas. Band 4, Staphylinidae I (Micropeplinae bis Tachyporinae). Krefeld: Goecke & Evers Verlag, 264 pp.
Lohse, G.A. (1974) Familie: Staphylinidae. In: Freude, H., Harde, K.W. & Lohse, G.A. (Eds.), Die K?fer Mitteleuropas. Band 5, Staphylinidae II (Hypocyphtinae und Aleocharinae). Pselaphidae. Krefeld: Goecke & Evers Verlag, 381 pp.
Lohse, G.A. (1989) Erg?nzungen und Berichtigungen zu Freude-Harde-Lohse "Die K?fer Mitteleuropas" Band 5 (1974), pp. 185?243 In: Lohse, G.A. & Lucht, W.H. (Eds.), Die K?fer Mitteleuropas. 1. Supplementband mit Katalogteil. Krefeld: Goecke & Evers Verlag, pp. 185?243.
Lott, D.A. (2009)
. The Staphylinidae (rove beetles) of Britain and Ireland. Part 5: Scaphidiinae, Piestinae, Oxytelinae. Handbooks for the identification of British insects, vol. 12, part 5. St Albans: Royal Entomological Society.British and Irish fauna only
Tronquet, M. (2006). Catalogue iconographique des Col?opt?res des Pyr?n?es-Orientales. Vol. 1: Staphylinidae. Suppl?ment au Tome XV de la Revue de l?Association Roussillonnaise d?Entomologie. Perpignan: Association Roussillonnaise d?Entomologie.Extensively illustrated
Rove beetles of the genus Aleochara are among the only insect parasites in the beetle family Staphylinidae. Most of the Aleochara are more rightly called parasitoids because their larvae use a single host, which is killed during the beetle's maturation. Adult Aleochara are predators. Life histories are known for only a few species. [more]
Coprophilus (from 'dung-loving') is, with about 30 species, a relatively small genus of staphylinid beetles. They are confined to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. These species occur near herbivore dungs as well as decaying plant matters, hence their generic name. [more]
The rove beetles are a large (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. With over 46,000 species in thousands of genera, the group is the second largest family of beetles after the Curculionidae (the true weevils). It is an ancient group, with fossil rove beetles known from the Triassic, 200 million years ago. [more]
The rove beetles are a large (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. With over 46,000 species in thousands of genera, the group is the second largest family of beetles after the Curculionidae (the true weevils). It is an ancient group, with fossil rove beetles known from the Triassic, 200 million years ago. [more]
Creophilus
The rove beetles are a large (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. With over 46,000 species in thousands of genera, the group is the second largest family of beetles after the Curculionidae (the true weevils). It is an ancient group, with fossil rove beetles known from the Triassic, 200 million years ago. [more]
The Emu , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. The soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds reach up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height. The Emu is common over most of mainland Australia, although it avoids heavily populated areas, dense forest, and arid areas. Emus can travel great distances at a fast, economical trot and, if necessary, can sprint at 50 km/h (31 mph) for some distance at a time. They are opportunistically nomadic and may travel long distances to find food; they feed on a variety of plants and insects. [more]
The rove beetles are a large (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. With over 46,000 species in thousands of genera, the group is the second largest family of beetles after the Curculionidae (the true weevils). It is an ancient group, with fossil rove beetles known from the Triassic, 200 million years ago. [more]
Herbs perennialorannual, slender, sometimes subshrubs, often roothemiparasites of grasses, ± evergreen.Stems green. Leaves alternate, usually sessile, usually linear or, sometimes, scale-like, 1-3-veined, lateralveins not apparent. Inflorescences apparently terminal, usually racemelike, often paniculate, less often cymose (or axillary and 1-flowered) ; bracts and bracteoles leaflike, sometimes partly adnate to pedicels; bracteoles 1 or 2 and opposed, rarely 4, sometimes absent. Flowersbisexual, white or yellowish green; perianthtubeconnate to ovary, limbcampanulate, cylindric, funnelform, or tubular, usually deeply (4 or) 5-lobed, lobesvalvate, usually with a tuft of hairbehind each stamen.Stamens (4 or) 5, usually on thebase of lobes; filaments not exserted; anthersovoid or ellipsoid, cells parallel, dehiscencelongitudinal.Disksuperior, inconspicuous or connate to base of perianth tube. Ovary inferior, stalked or sessile; ovules 2 or 3, pendulous from apex of placenta, usually flexuous or corrugate.Style long or short; stigmacapitate or inconspicuously 3-lobed. Fruit a smallnut, with persistent perianth at apex, exocarp dry, membranous [rarely fleshy], endocarp bony or slightly rigid, usually ridged; embryo in the middle of fleshy endosperm, erect or slightly curved, usually oblique, terete, radicle as long as or slightly longer than cotyledons.[15][more]
^ Capineira, John L (2008). "Dermatitis linearis". Encyclopedia of entomology. Springer. pp. 1179?. ISBN 978-1-4020-6242-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=i9ITMiiohVQC. "The 28 species thus far shown to produce such a toxin belong to three of the 14 genera of Paederina, namely Paederus, Paederidus, and Megalopaederus"
^ P. C. Craig (1970). "The behavior and distribution of the intertidal sand beetle, Thinopinus pictus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)". Ecology51 (6): 1012?1017. doi:10.2307/1933627. JSTOR 1933627.
^ Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press.
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