Cantharis
Sign in to saveCantharis is a large genus of soldier beetles in the family Cantharidae. They are a carnivorous genus with narrow and soft elytra. They live in meadows.
Article
9 sectionsContents
- Habitat
- Behavior
- Species
- Subgenus ''Cantharis''
- Subgenus ''Cyrtomoptila''
- See also
- References and notes
- Further reading
- External links
Cantharis is a large genus of soldier beetles in the family Cantharidae. They are a carnivorous genus with narrow and soft elytra. They live in meadows.
The poisonous Spanish fly is superficially similar and is associated with the scientific name Cantharis vesicatoria. It is also sometimes called "cantharis" in the vernacular, but it is actually unrelated to Cantharis and is not a member of the Cantharidae at all. It was classified there erroneously until Johan Christian Fabricius corrected its name in his Systema entomologiae in 1775. He reclassified the Spanish fly in the new genus Lytta as Lytta vesicatoria. It belongs to the family Meloidae.