Home > Phylum selection > Arthropoda > Coleoptera
Home How to cite this site Terms & conditions Disclaimer Contact Site tutorial / Help Links	Familia Leiodidae This family now unites species that were formerly distributed into 4 or more separate families. Initially they were united with the Silphidae, but soon several groups were separated and elevated to family level, e.g. Leiodidae (in a narrow sense; and often spelled Liodidae), Colonidae, Catopidae and Leptinidae. Later, several authors preferred to fuse these groups again into a family "Catopidae". The current view unites all these groups into one family Leiodidae sensu lato, but controversy remains regarding the monophyly of this family. Indeed, the family unites beetles of very different morphology, ecology and biology, and I expect further changes of the taxonomy of this group. In its broad sense the family comprises about 3500 species worldwide and is distributed mainly in the western Palearctic and Oriental regions. The members of the Leiodidae sensu lato are small beetles, usually below 5 mm in size. Most species are ovoid and black or brown without markings and therefore appear to be superficially similar, but are in fact quite different in terms of detailed morphology. The Leiodidae are coprophagous or necrophagous, many species also live on decaying fungi. Species of the genus Platypsyllus and related genera are often said to be ectoparasites, but in fact their ecology is insufficiently known. Adults and larvae of the Leiodidae usually live in the same habitat. The animals can be found in diverse habitats that offer appropriate food, e.g. in caves, burrows of mice or moles, bird nests, and under tree bark and in leaf litter and moss cushions. Members of the subfamily Coloninae live in the soil and feed on fungal mycelia, but at night come to the surface and can then be found on grasses and other plants. The life cycle of the majority of all species is incompletely known, and the larvae of one subfamily, the Coloninae, are even unknown. The number of larval stages appears to be quite constant, because for those species with known life cycles three larval instars have been reported. However, for some species only a single or up to five larval instars have been described. This page has been updated on March 27, 2013 This site is online since May 31, 2005 Copyright © by Nikola-Michael Prpic-Schäper. All rights reserved.