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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Cleroidea » Soft-winged Flower Beetles (Melyridae)

Family Melyridae - Soft-winged Flower Beetles

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Range · Habitat · Food · Works Cited
beetle - Collops quadriguttatus - female red and black beetle - Anthocomus equestris Beetle black yellow - Attalus circumscriptus Soft-winged Flower Beetle - Collops tricolor - male Soft-winged Flower Beetle - Collops bipunctatus - female Collops balteatus - female Grey and Black Spotted Beetle - Listrus Soft-winged Flower Beetle - Collops grandis - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Cleroidea
Family Melyridae (Soft-winged Flower Beetles)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Includes Malachiinae and Dasytinae(1), often treated as separate families, esp. by European workers; Rhadalinae(2) has been upgraded to family status(3); Dasytinae arrangement follows (4)
Explanation of Names
Melyridae Leach 1815
Numbers
by far the largest cleroid family(3); 3 subfamilies, with >500 spp. in ~50 genera in our area (tallied from many sources) and ~6000 spp. in 300 genera total(5)
Overview of our faunaTaxa not yet in the guide are marked (*)
Family MELYRIDAE
Subfamily Malachiinae
Tribe Carphurini Chaetocoelus
Tribe Malachiini
Subtribe Apalochrina CollopsSubtribe Attalina Attalus · Endeodes · Tanaops · TrophimusSubtribe Colotina TemnopsophusSubtribe Ebaeina Anthocomus · *Charopus · *Ebaeus · HypebaeusSubtribe Ilopina Condylops · NodopusSubtribe Malachiina Axinotarsus · Malachius · MicrolipusSubtribe Troglopina Attalusinus · *TroglopsIncertae sedis Ablechrus
Subfamily Melyrinae Melyrodes · *Melyris
Subfamily Dasytinae
Tribe Dasytini Dasytes · Psilothrix
Tribe Listrini Asydates · Eutricholistra · Listrus · *Microasydates · Pseudasydates · Trichochrous
Tribe Vecturini *Altovectura · Amphivectura · Dasytastes · Enallonyx · Eschatocrepis · Gracilivectura · Listrimorpha · Vectura
Size
2‒7 mm
Range
worldwide, incl. most of NA(1)(6)
Habitat
adults common on flowers; larvae in various habitats, most commonly in soil, leaf litter, or under bark
Food
chiefly insects but food preferences vary; adults evidently feed on flower-visiting insects and pollen, larvae are primarily predators of other insects
Works Cited
1.American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
2.A review of the Rhadalinae (=Aplocneminae) (Coleoptera: Melyridae)
Enid R. Peacock. 1987. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology, Vol. 56, No. 3, pp. 129-170.
3.Comprehensive phylogeny of the Cleroidea (Coleoptera: Cucujiformia)
Gimmel M.L., Bocakova M., Gunter N.L., Leschen R.A.B. 2019. Sys. Entomol. 44: 527‒558.
4.Taxonomic overview of world Dasytinae (Coleoptera: Melyridae), with emphasis on the North American fauna of the subfamily...
Gimmel M.L., Mayor A.J. 2024. Col. Bull. 78: 499‒536.
5.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.
6.Bousquet Y., ed. (1991) Checklist of the beetles of Canada and Alaska
Contributed by Cotinis on 29 September, 2004 - 7:42am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, Phillip Harpootlian, Mike Quinn, v belov, Edward Ruden
Last updated 20 April, 2025 - 8:27pm

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