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biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Family: Trogossitidae (gnawing beetles)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Arthopoda > Mandibulata > Atelocerata > Panhexapoda > Hexapoda > Insecta (insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota > Metapterygota > Neoptera > Eumetabola > Holometabola > Coleoptera (beetles) > Polyphaga > Superfamily: Cleroidea

Small to medium beetles, elongate and flattened. The larvae live under bark or in the tunnels of wood-boring insects, probably feeding on them. Tenebroides mauritanicus infests stored grain and cereals and also preys on other pest in the grains.

 

Gymnochila varia, 19mm. [image by M. Picker & C. Griffiths ©, from Field Guide to Insects of South Africa, used with permission].

 

Page by Margie Cochrane