Rove Beetle

Rove Beetle

The rove beetles are a large family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. With over 46,000 species in thousands of genera, the group is the second largest family of beetles after the Curculionidae (the true weevils). It is an ancient group, with fossil rove beetles known from the Triassic, 200 million years ago. In Indonesia, these beetles carry viruses that can infect human's skin.

One well-known species is the Devil's coach horse beetle. For some other species, see List of British rove beetles.

Read more about Rove Beetle:  Anatomy, Ecology, Systematics

Famous quotes containing the words rove and/or beetle:

    Let the new faces play what tricks they will
    In the old rooms; night can outbalance day,
    Our shadows rove the garden gravel still,
    The living seem more shadowy than they.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.
    Primo Levi (1919–1987)