notes

Some of the small families of

Tenebrionoidea, such as Chalcodryidae,

Promecheilidae, and Ulodidae, totaling

fewer than 100 species together, are found

in New Zealand, southern Australia, and

the southern tip of South America (in Chile

and Argentina). This distribution is on the

fragments of the old supercontinent of

Gondwana, which broke up during the

Mesozoic, and shows they belong to

a very ancient group

left | Oedemera nobilis (Oedemeridae)

A male Thick-Legged Flower Beetle

from Europe. Oedemera means

“swollen joints.”

right | Pyrochroa coccinea (Pyrochroidae)

The European Cardinal Beetle is named

for its bright red color, resembling a

cardinal’s scarlet robes. Larvae are

predators under bark.