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 families. They belong to the Adephaga. Members of the family are primarily carnivorous, but some members are phytophagous or omnivorous.
The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle families. Numerous subfamilies are recognized, but the precise taxonomy and systematics are likely to change with ongoing research.
The Adephaga are a suborder of beetles, and with more than 40,000 recorded species in 10 families, the second-largest of the four beetle suborders. Members of this suborder are collectively known as adephagans. The largest family is Carabidae which comprises most of the suborder with over 40,000 species. Adephaga also includes a variety of aquatic beetles, such as predaceous diving beetles and whirligig beetles.
The bean weevils or seed beetles are a subfamily (Bruchinae) of beetles, now placed in the family Chrysomelidae, though they have historically been treated as a separate family. They are granivores, and typically infest various kinds of seeds or beans, living most of their lives inside a single seed. The subfamily includes about 1,650 species and are found worldwide.
Myrmecophily is the term applied to positive interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms, such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi. Myrmecophily refers to mutualistic associations with ants, though in its more general use, the term may also refer to commensal or even parasitic interactions.
The Cryptocephalinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), and belong to the group of case-bearing leaf beetles called the Camptosomata.
Melanospilus is a genus of flanged-bombardier beetles or paussines in the family Carabidae, containing the following species: The genus is considered to belong to the subtribe Ceratoderina and all members are thought to be myrmecophiles. The ant host Paratrechina longicornis is known for M. bensoni.
Paussus is a genus of ground beetles in the family Carabidae. There are more than 360 described species in Paussus, found in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Platyrhopalopsis is a genus of flanged-bombardier beetles in the family Carabidae. They are found, as in others of the group, within ant nests, in the Indo-Malayan region. Adults are rarely seen except at lights. The flat terminal segment of the antenna is thought, based on studies of pupal development, to be formed by the fusion of multiple antennomere segments. The genus, placed by some in the tribe Platyrhopalina, includes the following three species:
Rhysodinae is a subfamily in the family Carabidae. There are 19 genera and at least 380 described species in Rhysodinae. The group of genera making up Rhysodinae had been treated as the family Rhysodidae in the past, and subsequent DNA analysis then placed it within Carabidae, where it was sometimes treated as the tribe Rhysodini, but the most recent analyses place it as a subfamily in a clade along with subfamilies Paussinae and Siagoninae, forming a sister to the remaining Carabidae.
Paussini is a tribe of ground beetles in the family Carabidae. There are more than 25 genera and 610 described species in Paussini. They are found mainly in Africa, southern Asia, and the Pacific, although the genus Homopterus is found in the Americas.
The Aleocharinae are one of the largest subfamilies of rove beetles, containing over 12,000 species. Previously subject to large-scale debate whether the subfamily deserved the familial status, it is now considered one of the largest subfamilies of rove beetles.
Claviger is a genus of beetles in the family Staphylinidae, subfamily Pselaphinae. About 40 species and subspecies are described, divided into two subgenera, Claviger (Claviger) and Claviger (Clavifer). Claviger displays unusual biological adaptations to myrmecophily. This pselaphid is of palearctic distribution.
Many species of Staphylinidae have developed complex interspecies relationships with ants, known as myrmecophily. Rove beetles are among the most rich and diverse families of myrmecophilous beetles, with a wide variety of relationships with ants. Ant associations range from near free-living species which prey only on ants, to obligate inquilines of ants, which exhibit extreme morphological and chemical adaptations to the harsh environments of ant nests. Some species are fully integrated into the host colony, and are cleaned and fed by ants. Many of these, including species in tribe Clavigerini, are myrmecophagous, placating their hosts with glandular secretions while eating the brood.
Lomechusa pubicollis is a species of rove beetle in the family Staphylinidae. It is unusual in that its larvae develop in the nests of one species of ant and the immature adults overwinter in the nest of another species of ant. These beetles are highly specialised myrmecophiles, tricking the ants into caring for them, and one of about 125 species of invertebrates that rely on spending part of their lives in and around the nests of red wood ants.
Symphiles are insects which live as welcome guests in the nest of a social insect by which they are fed and guarded. The relationship between the symphile and host may be symbiotic, inquiline or parasitic.
Goniotropis kuntzeni is a species of ground beetle in the family Carabidae. It is found in Central America and North America. Adults can be found on trees at night. Larvae dig burrows that they close off with their terminal disk, capturing prey with their terminal disk and dragging prey into the burrow.
Platyrhopalopsis melleii is a species of ant-nest or flanged bombardier beetle found in southern India. They live inside the nests of ants of the genus Carebara and adults are only rarely seen in the open, most often at night when they get attracted to lights.
Batrisus formicarius is a European species of ant-loving beetle placed within the Pselaphinae subfamily of the Staphylinidae family.
