Cantharidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Ordo: Coleoptera
Subordo: Polyphaga
Infraordo: Elateriformia
Superfamilia: Elateroidea

Familia: Cantharidae
Subfamiliae: Cantharinae - Chauliognathinae - Dysmorphocerinae - Malthininae - Silinae
Overview of genera

Falsopodabrus – Fissocantharis – Kuskaella – Laemoglyptus – Lycocerus – Malthinellus – Paramaronius – Pseudopodabrus – Stenothemus – Sucinorhagonycha –

Name

Cantharidae Imhoff, 1856
Synonyms

Telephoridae Leach, 1815
References

Template:Imhoff, 1856

Brancucci, M. 1980: Morphologie comparée, évolution et systématique des Cantharidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Entomologia Basiliensia, 5: 215–388.
Fanti, F. & Ghahari, H. 2016. A checklist of the soldier beetles (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Cantharidae) of Iran. Zootaxa 4196(4): 529–551. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4196.4.4. Reference page.
Fanti, F. & Pankowski, M.K. 2018. Three new species of soldier beetles from Baltic amber (Coleoptera, Cantharidae). Zootaxa 4455(3): 513–524. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4455.3.7 Open access PDF Reference page.
Kuśka, A. & Kania, I. 2010. New soldier beetles (Coleoptera, Cantharidae) from the Eocene Baltic amber. Zootaxa 2400: 49–56. Preview. Reference page.
Latreille, P.A. 1802: Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes. Tome 3. F. Dufart, Paris. Internet Archive BHL
Lawrence, J.F.; Beutel, R.G.; Leschen, R.A.B.; Ślipiński, A. 2010: 1. Changes in classification and list of families and subfamilies. Pp. 1-7 in: Leschen, R.A.B.; Beutel, R.G.; Lawrence, J.F. (volume eds.) Coleoptera, beetles. Volume 2: Morphology and systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim). In: Kristensen, N.P. & Beutel, R.G. (eds.) Handbook of zoology. A natural history of the phyla of the animal kingdom. Volume IV. Arthropoda: Insecta. Part 38. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110190753 ISBN 9783110190755
Li, L-M., Su, J-Y., Yang, Y-X. & Bai, M. 2016. A new species of Falsopodabrus Pic characterized with geometric morphometrics (Coleoptera, Cantharidae). ZooKeys 614: 97–112. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.614.6156. Reference page.
I.Löbl & A.Smetana (eds). 2007 Catalogue of Palearctic Coleoptera. Vol. 4: Elateroidea, Derodontoidea, Bostrichoidea, Lymexyloidea, Cleroidea and Cucujoidea. Apollo Books, Stenstrup, Denmark ISBN 87-88757-67-6, p. 234
Ramsdale, A.S. 2010: 4.17. Cantharidae Imhoff, 1856. Pp. 153-162 in: Leschen, R.A.B.; Beutel, R.G.; Lawrence, J.F. (volume eds.) Coleoptera, beetles. Volume 2: Morphology and systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim). In: Kristensen, N.P. & Beutel, R.G. (eds.) Handbook of zoology. A natural history of the phyla of the animal kingdom. Volume IV. Arthropoda: Insecta. Part 38. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110190753 ISBN 9783110190755 DOI: 10.1515/9783110911213.153
Takahashi, N. 2018. A new soldier beetle Malthinellus exiguus sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) from the Ryukyus in southwestern Japan, with a key to Japanese species. Zootaxa 4403(2): 395–400. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4403.2.11 Reference page.

Links

Australian Faunal Directory
Cantharidae in SYNOPSIS OF THE DESCRIBED COLEOPTERA OF THE WORLD

Vernacular names
dansk: Blødvinger
Deutsch: Weichkäfer
English: Soldier beetle
suomi: Sylkikuoriaiset
français: Cantharide
עברית: קנתריתיים
magyar: Lágybogarak
한국어: 병대벌레과
lietuvių: Minkštavabaliai
norsk: Bløtvinger
polski: Omomiłkowate
русский: Мягкотелки
svenska: Flugbaggar

The soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are relatively soft-bodied, straight-sided beetles. They are cosmopolitan in distribution. One of the first described species has a color pattern reminiscent of the red coats of early British soldiers, hence the common name. They are also known commonly as leatherwings because of their soft elytra.[1]

Historically, these beetles were placed in a superfamily "Cantharoidea", which has been subsumed by the superfamily Elateroidea; the name is still sometimes used as a rankless grouping, including the families Cantharidae, Lampyridae, Lycidae, Omethidae (which includes Telegeusidae), Phengodidae, and Rhagophthalmidae.

Evolutionary history

The oldest described member of the family is Molliberus from the early Albian aged El Soplao amber from Cantabria, Spain, belonging to the tribe Cantharini in the subfamily Cantharinae. Other described genera include 6 from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber, with 5 belonging to Cantharinae and one to Malthininae, and Katyacantharis, from the Cenomanian aged Agdzhakend amber of Azerbaijan, suggested to belong to Cantharinae. Indeterminate specimens have been reported from the Aptian Koonwarra fossil bed of the Strzelecki Group, Australia and the Barremian aged Lebanese amber.[2][3]
Subfamilies, tribes and selected genera

Five subfamilies are normally accepted:
Cantharinae

tribe Cantharini
Cantharis
Rhagonycha
tribe Podabrini
Podabrus

Chauliognathinae

tribe Chauliognathini
Belotus
Chauliognathus
tribe Ichtyurini
Trypherus

Dysmorphocerinae

Afronycha Wittmer, 1949 - central-southern Africa
Asilis Broun, 1893 - New Zealand
Compsonycha
Dysmorphocerus Solier, 1849
Flabelloontelus
Geigyella Wittmer, 1972 - New Guinea
Hansasilis
Heteromastix Boheman, 1858 - Australia
Hyponotum
Micronotum
Neoontelus Wittmer, 1972 - New Zealand
Oontelus Solier, 1849 - S. America
Plectocephalon
Plectonotum Gorham, 1891 - Americas

Malthininae

tribe Malchinini
Macrocerus Motschulsky, 1845 - Europe (synonym Malchinus)
tribe Malthinini
Caccodes Sharp, 1885 - Central America, Pacific islands
Malthinellus Kiesenwetter, 1874 - Japan
Malthinus Latreille, 1805 - Japan, Europe, N. America
tribe Malthodini
Frostia Bert. ex Guill.
Malthodes Kiesenwetter, 1852 - mostly Europe, N. America & New Zealand
†Archaeomalthodes Hsiao et al. 2016 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian

Silinae

tribe Silini
Cordylocera Guérin-Méneville, 1830
Silis Charpentier, 1825
tribe Tytthonyxini
Tytthonyx LeConte, 1851

Reproduction

Large males of the soldier beetle exercise choice for larger females. Body size correlates with the abilities of males to secure females, and of females to evade males.[4]
See also

Common red soldier beetle
List of Cantharidae genera

References

Phillips, C., et al. Leatherwing (Soldier) Beetles. Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University. 2013.
Peris, David; Fanti, Fabrizio (November 2018). "Molliberus albae gen. et sp. nov., the oldest Laurasian soldier beetle (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) from the Lower Cretaceous Spanish amber". Cretaceous Research. 91: 263–268. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.07.003.
Kazantsev, Sergey V.; Perkovsky, Evgeny E. (2019-02-28). "The first Cretaceous beetle from Azerbaijan: Katyacantharis zherikhini gen. et sp. n. (Coleoptera, Cantharidae) from Cenomanian Agdzhakend amber". Palaeoentomology. 2 (1): 7. doi:10.11646/palaeoentomology.2.1.2. ISSN 2624-2834.
McLain, Denson K.; Pratt, Ann E.; Shure, Donald J. (June 2015). "Size dependence of courtship effort may promote male choice and strong assortative mating in soldier beetles". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 69 (6): 883–894. doi:10.1007/s00265-015-1900-6. ISSN 0340-5443.