notes

The earliest unquestioned Hydrophiloidea

fossils are from two famous late Jurassic

localities, the Talbragar Fish Bed of

Australia and the Solnhofen Limestone

of Germany. Both these early fossils are

Hydrophilidae, which is not surprising as

their life in shallow water pools makes their

preservation as fossils much more likely

than Histeridae, which live in decaying

matter, so probably decay themselves

quickly after death

5–6.5 mm, and are found scattered across the

northern hemisphere, including northern Europe,

parts of Russia and China, and North America.

They resemble histerids, usually having a greenish

metallic sheen (although one of the Chinese species

has an orange pattern). They appear to be attracted

by tree sap in northern forests, where they feed and

breed in the sap-impregnated soil around recently

felled or wind-blown birch trees.

Synteliidae are even more unusual, and

have a disjunct distribution typical of

an ancient group that has become

extinct over much of its range

but survived in a few places;

in this case, species of the

same genus being known

from Mexico, China,

Japan, east India, and

the Russian Far East.

below | Sphaerites glabratus

(Sphaeritidae) A rare

species found in forest

litter in northern Europe.

opposite | Syntelia sunwukong

(Synteliidae) Discovered

in 2021, in Cretaceous

Burmese amber, this ancient

specimen seems to closely

resemble the few Synteliidae

that survive today.