Beetle pages on this website
We have grouped the beetles by habit because we think this may be easier for readers to follow than names of families. We are covering:
•
Pond beetles. Several families of beetles are strongly associated with ponds. These include the predatory
dytiscid beetles of the Dytiscidae family, the vegetarian water beetles of the Hydrophilidae family, and
whirligig beetles of the Gyrinidae family
Staphylinidae, and ladybirds of the Coccinellidae family. Larvae and adults are active predators
•
Dead wood beetles. These include stag beetles, longhorn beetles, woodworm beetles and bark beetles where
the larvae feed on dead wood
•
Carrion beetles. These include burying beetles and hide beetles which feed larvae on dead material
•
Other beetles. Many faimilies of small fungus eaters, and other more obscure garden beetles.
Websites we recommend
(very useful photos of representative beetles from British families)
Mike Hackston's
keys to groups of beetles Major work in progress.
Books
Cooter, J. & Barclay, M.V.L. (2006) The Coleopterist’s Handbook. The Amateur Entomologists’ Society
Unwin, D. M. (1984) A key to the families of British Beetles. A Field Studies Council AIDGAP key
Hammond,P.M., Marshall, J.E., Cox, M.L., Jessop, L.,Garner, B.H. and Maxwell,V.L. (2019) British Coleoptera larvae: A guide to the families and major subfamilies. Royal Entomological Society
Page drafted by Andrew Halstead, reviewed by Andrew Salisbury compiled by Steve Head