Variegated mud-loving beetles

Code QC369999

A family of Polyphaga - the large suborder of beetles in which the prothoracic pleuron is entirely concealed and the hind coxae are motile.

Small (2-5 mm), moderately elongate, parallel-sided, setose beetles. Head prognathous. Labrum large and prominent with the mandibles visible from above. Antennae 11-segmented but thick and short, not much longer than the head, with a loose 7-segmented club. Elytra covering the whole of the abdomen and with a pattern of light and dark markings. Tibiae flattened, with spines on the outer edges. Tarsal formula 4-4-4.

Heteroceridae (Polyphaga, placed in Byrrhoidea by Australian authors, Dryopoidea by American authors) larvae and adults tunnel in the mud at the edges of ponds and streams. Around 15 species occur in two genera in Australia.

Reference:

Lawrence, J.F. and Britton, E.B. (1991) Coleoptera. pp. 543-683. In: CSIRO, Insects of Australia. Volume 2. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria.