Specimen image via iDigBio · BY
Mezium
Sign in to saveMezium is a genus of beetles in the subfamily Ptininae, the spider beetles. It is distributed throughout most of the world. There are two centers of distribution: an area extending from the Iberian Peninsula to Morocco, including the Canary Islands; and an area extending through central and southern Africa. Several species are recently described African endemics. They are most common in coastal areas, and in regions with a Mediterranean climate.
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 109
- With media
- 2
- Family
- Ptinidae
- Collections
- SAM, TTU, PSUC
- Recorded in
- Namibia, United States
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Encyclopedic overview
1 sectionsContents
- References
Mezium is a genus of beetles in the subfamily Ptininae, the spider beetles. It is distributed throughout most of the world. There are two centers of distribution: an area extending from the Iberian Peninsula to Morocco, including the Canary Islands; and an area extending through central and southern Africa. Several species are recently described African endemics. They are most common in coastal areas, and in regions with a Mediterranean climate.
Their most common natural habitat type is caves, where they feed on animal feces, especially bat guano. They are adaptable to human-made structures such as barns and chicken coops.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mezium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.