Epimetopidae is a family of semi-aquatic beetles belonging to the
Hydrophiloidea
Hydrophiloidea, known as water scavenger beetles, is a superfamily of beetles. Until recently it included only a single family, the Hydrophilidae (water scavenger beetles), but several of the subfamilies have been removed and raised to family ra ...
. They are found in sand and gravel at the edges of streams, rivers and shallow freshwater ponds.
These beetles are shorter than half a centimeter long and have a pronotum with a central projection forming a shelf above the head. On the underside of the abdomen only four sternites are visible. There are approximately 72 described species in three genera, ''
Epimetopus'' which is restricted to the New World, mostly
Neotropical
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In bioge ...
, ''
Eupotemus'' with two
Afrotropical species and ''
Eumetopus''
with some
Oriental
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...
species. Females carry their eggcases on the underside of the abdomen. The larvae are probably carnivorous based on their mouthparts and likely live in the same habitats as the adults.
References
{{taxonbar, from=Q990065
Beetle families
Hydrophiloidea