The soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are relatively soft-bodied, straight-sided
beetle
Beetles are 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 describ ...
s. 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
An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...
.
Historically, these beetles were placed in a superfamily "Cantharoidea", which has been subsumed by the superfamily
Elateroidea
The Elateroidea are a large superfamily of beetles. It contains the familiar click beetles, fireflies, and soldier beetles and their relatives. It consists of about 25,000 species.
Description
Elateroidea is a morphologically diverse group, ...
; the name is still sometimes used as a rankless grouping, including the families Cantharidae,
Lampyridae
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
,
Lycidae,
Omethidae
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 ...
(which includes
Telegeusidae),
Phengodidae
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 re ...
, and
Rhagophthalmidae
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 (glowworm beetles), though ...
.
Soldier beetles often feed on both nectar and pollen as well as predating other small insects. The larvae are often active, velvety, often brightly-colored, and they feed on the ground, hunting snails and other small creatures.
Evolutionary history
The oldest described member of the family is ''
Molliberus'' from the
Early Cretaceous (early
Albian
The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/ Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0 ...
) aged El Soplao amber from Cantabria, Spain, belonging to the tribe
Cantharini in the subfamily
Cantharinae. Other described genera include 6 from the early
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...
(early
Cenomanian) aged
Burmese amber
Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...
, with 5 belonging to Cantharinae and one to
Malthininae
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 coat (British army), red coats of early Bri ...
, and ''
Katyacantharis'', from the Cenomanian aged Agdzhakend amber of Azerbaijan, suggested to belong to Cantharinae. Indeterminate specimens have been reported from the
Aptian aged
Koonwarra fossil bed of the
Strzelecki Group, Australia and the
Barremian aged
Lebanese amber.
Subfamilies,
tribes
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
and selected genera
Five subfamilies are normally accepted:
Cantharinae
* tribe Cantharini
** ''
Cantharis
''Cantharis'' is a large genus of soldier beetles in the family Cantharidae with narrow and soft elytra.
The poisonous Spanish fly is superficially similar and is associated with the scientific name ''Cantharis vesicatoria''. It is also sometime ...
''
** ''
Rhagonycha
''Rhagonycha''von Eschscholtz JF (1830) Nova genera Coleopterorum Faunae Europaeae. ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou'' 2(1): 63–66. is a genus of soldier beetle belonging to the family Cantharidae. There are at ...
''
* tribe Podabrini
** ''
Podabrus''
Chauliognathinae
* tribe Chauliognathini
** ''
Belotus''
** ''
Chauliognathus''
* tribe Ichtyurini
** ''
Trypherus''
Dysmorphocerinae
* ''
Afronycha'' Wittmer, 1949 - central-southern Africa
* ''
Asilis'' Broun, 1893 - New Zealand
* ''
Compsonycha''
* ''
Dysmorphocerus'' Solier, 1849
* ''
Flabelloontelus''
* ''
Geigyella'' Wittmer, 1972 - New Guinea
* ''
Hansasilis''
* ''
Heteromastix'' Boheman, 1858 - Australia
* ''
Hyponotum''
* ''
Micronotum''
* ''
Neoontelus'' Wittmer, 1972 - New Zealand
* ''
Oontelus'' Solier, 1849 - S. America
* ''
Plectocephalon''
* ''
Plectonotum'' Gorham, 1891 -
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
Malthininae
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 coat (British army), red coats of early Bri ...
* tribe Malchinini
** ''
Macrocerus''
Motschulsky, 1845 - Europe (synonym ''Malchinus'')
* tribe Malthinini
** ''
Caccodes''
Sharp, 1885 - Central America, Pacific islands
** ''
Malthinellus''
Kiesenwetter, 1874 - Japan
** ''
Malthinus''
Latreille, 1805 - Japan, Europe, N. America
* tribe Malthodini
** ''
Frostia''
Bert. ex Guill.
** ''
Malthodes''
Kiesenwetter, 1852 - mostly Europe, N. America & New Zealand
** †''
Archaeomalthodes''
Hsiao et al. 2016 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
Silinae
* tribe Silini
** ''
Cordylocera''
Guérin-Méneville, 1830
** ''
Silis''
Charpentier, 1825
* tribe Tytthonyxini
** ''
Tytthonyx''
LeConte, 1851
Reproduction
Large males of the soldier beetle exercise choice for larger females. Body size correlates with the abilities of males to secure females, and of females to evade males.
See also
*
List of Cantharidae genera
References
External links
Delta keyKeys for the identification of British Cantharidae*
*
{{Authority control
Biological pest control beetles
*
Articles containing video clips