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: Cucujiformia
Superfamilia: Tenebrionoidea
Familia: Tenebrionidae
Subfamilia: Tenebrioninae
Tribus: Tenebrionini
Genus: Zophobas
Species: Z. alternans – Z. atratus – Z. bifasciatus – Z. bertiae – Z. klingerhoefferi – Z. laticollis – Z. macretus – Z. morio – Z. nigritus – Z. olemartini – Z. quadrimaculatus – Z. soekhnandanae – Z. subnitens – Z. tibialis – Z. tridentatus – ...
Name
Zophobas Dejean 1834: Catal. Coléopt., ed. 2, 204 [n.n.]; Blanchard 1845, Hist. Insect., 2, 15.
References
Ferrer, J. 2011: Revision of the genus Zophobas Dejean, 1834 (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Tenebrionini). Boletín de la S.E.A., 48: 287–319. [Not seen] Reference page.
Zophobas is a genus of beetles in the family Tenebrionidae, the darkling beetles. In Cuba beetles of this genus are known as blind click-beetles.[1]
Perhaps the best known species is Zophobas morio, a beetle whose larvae are robust mealworms sold as food for pets such as lizards. The larvae are known commonly as "superworms".[2]
Zophobas atratus is also used as pet food, sold in pet stores[3] under the name "giant mealworms", but should not be confused with darkling beetle mealworms sprayed with juvenile hormone.[4] Studies have found that in the wild the larvae sometimes live in bat guano, and they tend to cannibalize the pupae of their own species.[5] Researchers have discovered that the larvae can subsist on a diet solely of polystyrene (Styrofoam).[6]
Species include:[1]
Zophobas atratus
Zophobas batavorum
Zophobas laticollis
Zophobas morio
Zophobas rugipes
References
Garrido, O. H. and E. Gutierrez. (1994). Variability of Zophobas rugipes Kirsch (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Tenebrioninii) in Cuba. Insecta Mundi. 8(3-4). Paper 284.
Darkling Beetle and Larva, Zophobas morio. Archived 2016-12-25 at the Wayback Machine Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory.
Miller, J. S., et al. (1996). Eicosanoids modulate nodulation responses to bacterial infections in larvae of the tenebrionid beetle Zophobus atratus. J Insect Physiol 42(1) 3-12.
Ichikawa, T. and H. Sakamoto. (2013). A third type of defensive behavior in the tenebrionid beetle Zophobas atratus pupae.[permanent dead link] Journal of Insect Science 13 33.
Tschinkel, W. (1981). Larval dispersal and cannibalism in a natural population of Zophobas atratus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Anim Behav 29 990-96.
Yang, Y., Wang, J. and Mengli, X. (2019) Biodegradation and mineralization of polystyrene by plastic-eating superworms Zophobas atratus Science of the Total Environment vol. 708
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