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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Staphyliniformia » Staphylinoidea » Minute Moss Beetles (Hydraenidae)

Family Hydraenidae - Minute Moss Beetles

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Works Cited

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Staphyliniformia)

Superfamily Staphylinoidea

Family Hydraenidae (Minute Moss Beetles)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

used to be grouped with the Hydrophilidae(1)

Explanation of Names

Hydraenidae Mulsant 1844

Numbers

~70 spp. in 6 genera of 2 subfamilies in our area, 210 spp. in the New World, ~1400 described spp. (+hundreds undescribed) in >40 genera worldwide(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7) (the cosmopolitan Hydraena alone includes ~900 described spp.)

Size

0.5‒3.0 mm(1)

Identification

key to most NA species in (2); FL spp. in (8)

Range

worldwide(1)

Habitat

in moss or accumulations of moist/wet dead leaves and sticks/twigs along the margins of streams, rivers, sinkholes, pools and ponds; also in littoral zone substrata(8)

Food

Larvae and adults graze on wet stones, sand grains and plant matter, where they feed on algae, bacteria, protozoans and detritus(8)

Remarks

Some of the oldest beetle fossils are hydraenids, from the lower Jurassic(1)

See Also

The antennal club of 5 antennomeres (vs normally 3 antennomeres in hydrophiloids)(1)

Print References

(9)

Works Cited

1.	American Beetles, Volume I: Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia Arnett, R.H., Jr., and M. C. Thomas. (eds.). 2000. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

2.	Aquatic beetles of the family Hydraenidae in the Western Hemisphere: classification, biogeography and inferred phylogeny Perkins, P.D. 1980.

3.	Newton A.F., Thayer M.K. Catalog of higher taxa of Staphyliniformia and genera and subgenera of Staphylinoidea [online]

4.	World catalogue of insects, Vol. 1: Hydraenidae (Coleoptera). Hansen, M. 1998. 1998. Apollo Books, Vester-Skerninge, Denmark. .

5.	A review of the genera of the beetle family Hydraenidae (Coleoptera) Hansen M. 1991. Steenstrupia 17: 1-52.

6.	Aquatic beetles of the family Hydraenidae in the Western Hemisphere: classification, biogeography and inferred phylogeny Perkins P.D. 1980. Quaestiones Entomologicae 16: 3-554.

7.	Order Coleoptera Linnaeus, 1758. In: Zhang Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification... Ślipiński S.A., Leschen R.A.B., Lawrence J.F. 2011. Zootaxa 3148: 203–208.

8.	The Water Beetles of Florida Epler J.H. 2010. Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Tallahassee. 414 pp.

9.	Life on the effective bubble: exocrine secretion delivery systems (ESDS) and the evolution and classification of beetles... Perkins P.D. 1997. Annals of Carnegie Museum 66(2): 89-207.

Contributed by tom murray on 27 April, 2006 - 7:18pm
Additional contributions by Phillip Harpootlian, Jeff Gruber, Mike Quinn, Tim Moyer, v belov, Edward Ruden, mpintar
Last updated 7 December, 2023 - 5:05pm

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