| Tolidomordella | |
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| Genus: | Tolidomordella Ermisch, 1950 |
| Type species | |
| Mordella discoidea Melsheimer, 1845 | |
Tolidomordella is a genus of beetles in the family Mordellidae, containing the following species: [1]
Beetles are a group of 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 species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms; new species are discovered frequently. The largest of all families, the Curculionidae (weevils) with some 83,000 member species, belongs to this order. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.
The Mordellidae are a family of beetles commonly known as tumbling flower beetles for the typical irregular movements they make when escaping predators, or as pintail beetles due to their abdominal tip which aids them in performing these tumbling movements. Worldwide, there are about 1500 species.
- Tolidomordella discoidea (Melsheimer, 1845)
- Tolidomordella discoidea discoidea(Melsheimer, 1845)
- Tolidomordella discoidea flaviventris(Smith, 1883)
The Reverend Frederick Valentine Melsheimer was a Lutheran clergyman and early American entomologist, called the "Father of American Entomology" by successor Thomas Say. He was the author of the first major entomological work in the United States: A Catalogue of Insects of Pennsylvania (1806), a sixty-page work that describes 1,363 species of beetles.
- Tolidomordella fenestrata (Champion, 1891)
