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Anthropocentric: worldview centered around

people and their needs.

Batesian mimicry: form of imitation where a

harmless animal resembles one that is dangerous

or toxic, thereby gaining protection from the

resemblance. Named after the Victorian naturalist

Henry Walter Bates (1825–92), who discovered this

process while studying butterflies in the Amazonian

rainforests.

Cerrado: tropical dry savannah of South America,

covering around a fifth of Brazil and areas of Bolivia

and Paraguay.

Chaparral: scrub habitat with hot, dry summers and

stunted, drought-tolerant vegetation, characteristic of

southern USA and northern Mexico.

Conglobation: rolling up into a ball shape.

Cosmotropical: animal or plant that occurs

throughout, or widely in, the tropical regions of

the world.

Coxal plates: expanded plate-like structures found

on the underside of some adult beetles behind the

legs. Useful for taxonomy and identification.

Crypsis: ability to escape detection by blending into

the surrounding area, using color, shape, or pattern.

Diurnal: active during daylight.

DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid, the molecule that

carries genetic information in both animals and plants.

Composed of four chemicals called nucleotides, and

their order, or sequence, can be interpreted and of

taxonomic importance.

Ectoparasites: organisms that live on the outside of

another organism, the host, and take nutrition from it

(for example, by sucking blood or sap). Often adapted

to live among fur, feathers, for instance, and may be

specific as to the species of host that they use.

Elytra: wing cases of beetles, developed from the

first pair of wings. At rest, they protect the delicate

flight wings.

Flabellate (of antennae): forming plates, or flabellae,

which seek to maximize surface area, usually for

scent detecting.

Fossorial (of legs): adapted for digging.

Garrigue: scrub habitat of the Mediterranean,

consisting of stunted trees and drought-tolerant,

aromatic vegetation.

Geniculate (of antennae): knee-shaped (that is, with

one part at a marked angle to the other).

Holarctic: occurring throughout the north of the

northern hemisphere (that is, naturally occurring in

northern Asia, North America, and northern Europe).

Hygropetric: occurring on rock surfaces that are

constantly wet.

Inquiline: occurring within the nests of social insects

such as ants or termites, using the nest for food or

shelter, and having a varying degree of protection

from the host insects.

Interstitial fauna: found in caves, but also in

the fissures and cracks in the ground that connects

caves together.

Lamellate (of antennae): resembling the pages of

a book, developed into plate-like lamellae to increase

surface area, usually for scent detecting, but differing

from flabellate antennae by being mobile and able to be

opened or closed.

Larviform: resembling a larva (that is lacking wings),

even when adult, such as glowworms (Lampyridae).

Maquis: dense Mediterranean coastal scrub habitat,

resembling garrigue.

Mesonotum: upper part of the mesothorax in adult

beetles, where the elytra are attached. Usually covered

by the pronotum and elytra when at rest.

Mesoventrite: lower part of the mesothorax, where the

middle legs are attached.

Mesothorax: middle part of the thorax, including

the mesonotum and mesoventrite.

Metanotum: upper part of the metathorax in adult

beetles, where the flight wings are attached. Usually

covered by the elytra when at rest.

Metathorax: third and last part of the thorax,

including the metanotum and metaventrite.

Mutualism: relationship between two organisms of

different species, where both benefit.

Mycangia: cavities in the exoskeleton of some adult

beetles (such as Curculionidae: Scolytinae) for carrying

GLOSSARY

Glossary