FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE

• Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

• Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

• Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

• Insects (Class Insecta)

• Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

• Beetles (Order Coleoptera​​)

• Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf, and Snout Beetles (Suborder Polyphaga)

• ​Cucujiform Beetles (Infraorder Cucujiformia)

• Darkling Beetles and Allies (Superfamily Tenebrionoidea)

• Darkling Beetles (Family Tenebrionidae)

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Family Tenebrionidae comprises the darkling beetles, one of the largest families of beetles in the order Coleoptera. Darkling beetles occur in a wide variety of habitats but are especially abundant and diverse in arid and semi-arid environments such as deserts, scrublands, and grasslands. Adults are typically dark brown, black, or grey, with robust, oval to elongated bodies and often fused wing covers that reduce water loss. Most tenebrionids are scavengers and decomposers that feed on dead plant matter, fungi, seeds, and detritus.