Adephaga

suborder of beetles

The Adephaga is a suborder of beetles. There are more than 40,000 recorded species in ten families. This is the second largest suborder of the order Coleoptera.

Adephaga
Temporal range: Changhsingian/InduanHolocene, 251.2–0 Ma[1]
Dytiscus latissimus, a predaceous diving beetle
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Adephaga
Schellenberg, 1806
Families

Extant families:

Amphizoidae
Aspidytidae
Carabidae
Dytiscidae
Gyrinidae
Haliplidae
Hygrobiidae
Meruidae Spangler & Steiner 2005
Noteridae
Rhysodidae
Trachypachidae

Extinct families:

Colymbothetidae
Coptoclavidae
Liadytidae
Parahygrobiidae
Triaplidae
Adephaga

The beetles of this suborder include ground beetles, tiger beetles, diving beetles, and whirligig beetles. Most of the species belong to the family of carabids, or ground beetles (Carabidae).

The Adephaga is two groups with a common origin. They are the Hydradephaga (water beetles) and the Geadephaga (ground beetles. They are mostly predatory. The first fossils of both groups are found in the Triassic period.[2] The ground beetles have formidable chemical defences. They have special pygidial glands which squirt out hot, burning chemicals. Bombardier beetles are famous for squirting their nasty chemicals at attackers.

References

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  1. Wang, Yan-hui; Engel, Michael S.; Rafael, José A.; Wu, Hao-yang; Rédei, Dávid; Xie, Qiang; Wang, Gang; Liu, Xiao-guang; Bu, Wen-jun (2016). "Fossil record of stem groups employed in evaluating the chronogram of insects (Arthropoda: Hexapoda)". Scientific Reports. 6: 38939. doi:10.1038/srep38939. PMC 5154178. PMID 27958352.
  2. Grimaldi D. and Engel M.S. 2005. Evolution of the insects. Cambridge University Press, 267 et seq. ISBN 0-521-82149-5