Adephaga
| Adephaga | |
|---|---|
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| Dytiscus latissimus, a predaceous diving beetle | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: |
Adephaga Schellenberg, 1806 |
| Families | |
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Extant families:
Extinct families: |
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Extant families:
Extinct families:
The Adephaga (from Greek ἀδηφάγος, adephagos, "gluttonous"), with more than 40,000 recorded species in 10 families, are a suborder of highly specialized beetles and the second-largest suborder of the order Coleoptera. Members of this suborder are adephagans, a term which notably include ground beetles, tiger beetles, predacious diving beetles, and whirligig beetles. The majority of the species belongs to the family of carabids, or ground beetles (Carabidae).
Adephagans have simple antennae with no pectination or clubs. The galeae of the maxillae usually consist of two segments. Adult adephagans have visible notopleural sutures. The first visible abdominal sternum is completely separated by the hind coxae, which is one of the most easily recognizable traits of adephagans. Five segments are on each foot.
The transverse fold of the hind wing is near the wing tip. The median nervure ends at this fold, where it is joined by a cross nervure.
Adephagans have four Malpighian tubules. Unlike in other beetles, yolk chambers alternate with egg chambers in the ovarian tubes of adephagans. The coiled, tubular testes consist of a single follicle, and the ovaries are polytrophic.
All families of adephagan have paired pygidial glands located posterodorsally in the abdomen, which are used for secreting chemicals. The glands consist of complex invaginations of the cuticle lined with epidermal cells contiguous with the integument. The glands have no connection with the rectum and open on the eighth abdominal tergum.
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Wikipedia