common name: rove beetles (of the world) scientific name:
Staphylinidae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) Introduction
- Classification - Appearance - Habitat and Food - Behavior -
Structure and Function - Causes of Mortality - Importance to
Humans - Selected References The family Staphylinidae belongs to
the suborder Polyphaga of the order Coleoptera (beetles). The
superfamily Staphylinoidea includes the small families
Hydraenidae, Ptiliidae, Agyrtidae, Leiodidae, and Silphidae, and
the huge family Staphylinidae. SUBORDER Polyphaga - SUPERFAMILY
Staphylinoidea - FAMILY Staphylinidae At present, more species
of beetles are known than of any other insect order. As now
constituted, Staphylinidae is the largest family of beetles,
with over 54,000 species known worldwide and probably over 75%
of tropical species still undescribed. It is the largest family
in the British Isles and in America north of Mexico, and it may
prove to be so in other regions when huge numbers of now-unknown
species are described (if th