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HISTER BEETLES, WATER SCAVENGER

BEETLES, AND RELATIVES

HYDROPHILOIDEA

superfamily

Hydrophiloidea

known species

7,712

distribution

Worldwide except Antarctica. Synteliidae

are restricted to a few places in Asia and

Mexico, and Sphaeritidae to the north of the

northern hemisphere

habitat

Hydrophilidae in aquatic habitats or in dung,

Histeridae in decaying plant, fungal, or

animal matter

size

1–55 mm

diet

Histeridae are mainly predators, while

Hydrophilidae adults are scavengers

(many larvae are predators)

T

he superfamily Hydrophiloidea is one of the

smaller superfamilies of Polyphaga, including

only four families, each with fewer than 5,000

known species in the modern fauna. Two of the

families are relatively much larger, and are covered

separately below. These are the water scavenger

beetles Hydrophilidae, a group of aquatic, or in

a few cases, dung-living beetles with around 3,400

species, and the Histeridae, called hister or clown

beetles, with around 4,300 species, most of which

are predators found in decaying plant, fungal, or

animal matter.

The other two families are much smaller, but are

taxonomically interesting because although clearly

related to the Histeridae, they do not have all the

characters that would include them in this family.

These are the Synteliidae, with seven species, and

the Sphaeritidae, with five. Sphaeritidae are from