Nitidulidae (pollen beetles, sap beetles)

Family: Nitidulidae (pollen beetles, sap beetles)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Arthopoda > Mandibulata > Atelocerata > Panhexapoda > Hexapoda > Insecta (insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota > Metapterygota > Neoptera > Eumetabola > Holometabola > Coleoptera (beetles) > Polyphaga > Superfamily: Cucujoidea

This is a large and very varied family, both in morphology and habitat. They vary in length from 1-11mm and can be ovate or elongate, flattened or convex. They occupy various niches: some feed on pollen, plants, decaying and fermenting fruit; some feed on drying maize cobs causing damage; some live under bark and are probably predators of bark beetles; Cybocephalus are all scale insect predators; Pallodes and Pocadius live in fungi.

Ablyopus sp., 5mm. [image by M. Picker & C. Griffiths ©, from Field Guide to Insects of South Africa, used with permission].

Page by Margie Cochrane