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Byrrhidae
EntityQ849103· pop 26· linked from 696 articles

Also known as pill beetles

Byrrhidae, the pill beetles, is a family of beetles in the superfamily Byrrhoidea. They are generally found in damp habitats within cooler-high latitude regions of both hemispheres. Most byrrhids feed on moss, lichens and algae, though some species feed on vascular plants. The oldest undoubted record of the family is Lidryops from the earliest Late Cretaceous Charentese amber of France, with other less certain records going back to the Middle Jurassic, but these possibly belong to Byrrhoidea. There around 500 extant species in 40 genera.

Species

pill beetles

FAMILY

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumArthropoda
  3. ClassInsecta
  4. OrderColeoptera
  5. FamilyByrrhidae
Observations recorded37,138

Пилю́льщики (лат. Byrrhidae) — семейство насекомых из отряда жесткокрылых.

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
240
With media
49
Family
Byrrhidae
Collections
UAM, UNM, CHAS, LCDI, PSUC, NMSU
Recorded in
United States

~1 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • Environment
  • Taxonomy
  • References
  • External links

Byrrhidae, the pill beetles, is a family of beetles in the superfamily Byrrhoidea. They are generally found in damp habitats within cooler-high latitude regions of both hemispheres. Most byrrhids feed on moss, lichens and algae, though some species feed on vascular plants. The oldest undoubted record of the family is Lidryops from the earliest Late Cretaceous Charentese amber of France, with other less certain records going back to the Middle Jurassic, but these possibly belong to Byrrhoidea. There around 500 extant species in 40 genera.

== Environment == Byrrhidae are known to thrive best in disturbed environments, specifically post-fire environments. The population increase of byrrhids in fire-ridden areas has lead some to use them as an indicator of the magnitude of disturbances.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Byrrhidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)