The soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are relatively soft-bodied, straight-sided beetles. 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.
Elateridae or click beetles are a family of beetles. Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or skipjacks. This family was defined by William Elford Leach (1790–1836) in 1815. They are a cosmopolitan beetle family characterized by the unusual click mechanism they possess. There are a few other families of Elateroidea in which a few members have the same mechanism, but most elaterid subfamilies can click. A spine on the prosternum can be snapped into a corresponding notch on the mesosternum, producing a violent "click" that can bounce the beetle into the air. Clicking is mainly used to avoid predation, although it is also useful when the beetle is on its back and needs to right itself. There are about 9300 known species worldwide, and 965 valid species in North America.
The beetle family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose larvae are known as glowworms. The females and larvae have bioluminescent organs. They occur throughout the New World from extreme southern Canada to Chile. The recently recognized members of the Phengodidae, the Cydistinae, are found in Western Asia. The family Rhagophthalmidae, an Old World group, used to be included in the Phengodidae.
Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence also occurs in the families Elateridae, Phengodidae and Rhagophthalmidae among beetles; as well as members of the genera Arachnocampa, Keroplatus and Orfelia among keroplatid fungus gnats.
Byrrhoidea is a superfamily of beetles belonging to Elateriformia that includes several families which are either aquatic or associated with a semi-aquatic habitat. Other than the superfamily Hydrophiloidea, most of the remaining Polyphagan beetles which are aquatic are in this superfamily.
The Rhagophthalmidae are a family of beetles within the superfamily Elateroidea. Members of this beetle family have bioluminescent organs on the larvae, and sometimes adults, and are closely related to the Phengodidae, though historically they have been often treated as a subfamily of Lampyridae, or as related to that family. Some recent evidence suggested that they were the sister group to the Phengodidae, and somewhat distantly related to Lampyridae, whose sister taxon was Cantharidae, but more reliable genome-based phylogenetics placed as the sister group to the Lampyridae.
The Omalisinae are a small subfamily of morphologically derived elaterid beetles. The Omalisinae were long considered an independent family in the deprecated family Cantharoidea, and later a family in the Elateroidea, but molecular phylogenies have demonstrated the morphological similarity of Omalisinae to other soft bodied beetles is a case of parallel evolution (homoplasy) of their soft bodies, rather than an apomorphy. Members of this beetle subfamily have been reported to have bioluminescent organs on the larvae, although no recent publications have confirmed this. Some recent evidence indicated they were the sister group to a clade comprising the families Rhagophthalmidae and Phengodidae, however a more comprehensive phylogenetic analysis based on genome sequences strongly supported the Omalisinae as being contained within the Elateridae.
Plastocerus is a genus of click beetles, the sole member of the subfamily Plastocerinae; while it has historically often been ranked as a family, the genus is now placed firmly within the family Elateridae.
Rhinorhipus is a genus of beetles that contains a single species, Rhinorhipus tamborinensis from southern Queensland, Australia. It is the sole member of the family Rhinorhipidae and superfamily Rhinorhipoidea. It is an isolated lineage not closely related to any other living beetle, estimated to have split from other beetles at least 200 million years ago, with studies either considering them the earliest diverging member of Elateriformia, or a basal lineage within Polyphaga. They exhibit feigning death (thanatosis) when disturbed. Their ecology is poorly known. It is likely that they are fossorial based on their morphology.
Drilini is a tribe of beetles known commonly as the false firefly beetles, in the family Elateridae.
Eucnemidae, or false click beetles, are a family of elateroid beetles including about 1700 species distributed worldwide.
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 or surrounding forests, and are probably active during the day.
The Cantharoid beetles are a deprecated non-monophyletic taxonomic grouping, whose former members are now mostly within the currently accepted superfamily Elateroidea, and some are now within Elateridae. One former family, Cneoglossidae, is now in the superfamily Byrrhoidea.
The Pyrophorini are a New World taxonomic tribe within the Elateridae subfamily Agrypninae. Pyrophorini is a tribe of bioluminescent beetles, and includes such genera as Pyrophorus and Ignelater.
Sinopyrophorus is a genus of bioluminescent hard-bodied clicking beetles in the superfamily Elateroidea, and is the sole member of the recently recognized family Sinopyrophoridae. The genus currently contains a single species, Sinopyrophorus schimmeli, which was described in 2019 from the subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests of western Yunnan, China.
Iberobaenia is a genus of elateroid beetle. It is the only member of the family Iberobaeniidae. It was first described in 2016, from two species found in Southern Spain. A third species was described in 2017, from the same region. Like some other members of the Elateroidea, the females are neotenic.
Mysteriomorphus is an extinct genus of beetle, and the only member of the family Mysteriomorphidae. It is known from one described species, Mysteriomorphus pelevini found in Burmese amber, dating to the early part of the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous but more species are likely due to the morphological diversity of known specimens. It was initially placed in Elateriformia incertae sedis, but a subsequent study found that it was better placed within the Elateroidea, close to Elateridae.
The Lycini is a species-rich beetle tribe belonging to the subfamily Lycinae
Telegeusinae is a small subfamily of beetles in the family Omethidae recognizable by enlarged palpi found in males. Though relatively rare, males are sometimes found in large numbers in black light traps. Females are not known in this group, but it is theorized that females are larviform as found in many closely related taxa.
