genus and species are written in italics, the genus

name always has a capital letter, the species name

never does (even when based on someone’s name).

The European Stag Beetle would be classified,

in descending order, as:

1. Kingdom Animalia (animals)

2. Phylum Arthropoda (arthropods, animals

with jointed limbs)

3. Class Insecta (insects, arthropods with

three divisions of the body and six legs)

4. Order Coleoptera (beetles)

5. Family Lucanidae (stag beetles)

6. Genus Lucanus (typical stag beetles)

7. Species Lucanus cervus (European

Stag Beetle)

This classification system can easily be

modified or extended, which to some extent

explains its survival. For example, extra ranks can

be inserted above or below existing ones simply

by adding “super-” or “sub-” to the rank name.

So, the stag beetle family Lucanidae can also be

placed in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, for

scarablike beetle families.

In this book, we use the classification included

in a chapter on global beetle diversity published by

one of the co-authors in 2017.

NUMBER OF SPECIES

Less than 1,000

Between 1,000 and 10,000

More than 10,000

Archostemata

Myxophaga

Adephaga

Scirtoidea

Derodontoidea

Dascilloidea

Buprestoidea

Byrrhoidea

Elateroidea

Hydrophiloidea

Staphylinoidea

Scarabaeoidea

Bostrichoidea

Cleroidea

Lymexyloidea

Tenebrionoidea

Cucujoidea

Chrysomeloidea

Curculionoidea

Polyphaga

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS