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Social Beetles

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Encyclopedia of Social Insects

Synonyms

Ambrosia beetle; Bark beetle; Bess beetle; Burying beetle; Darkling beetle; Dung beetle; Fungus beetle; Rove beetle; Stag beetle

With about 400,000 species, beetles (Coleoptera) are the largest order of animals, making up almost 40% of described insect species and 25% of all known animal species. Beetles are present in virtually all habitable terrestrial environments. They can live well both on land and in fresh water and use a great variety of food sources from detritus to living fungi, plants, and other animals. Very few species live in durable structured groups, but social structures of various kinds are nonetheless diverse. These include larval and adult aggregations, prolonged uni- and biparental care, facultative eusociality, and possibly even obligate eusociality [3].

A very small number of these social systems are well studied, such as parental care in burying beetles (Silphidae) and adult aggregations in tree-killing bark beetles (Curculionidae) [5]. It is...

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References

  1. Chaboo, C. S. (2011). Defensive behaviors in leaf beetles: From the unusual to the weird. In J. M. Vivanco & T. Weir (Eds.), Chemical biology of the tropics: An interdisciplinary approach (pp. 59–69). Berlin: Springer.

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  5. Kirkendall, L. R., Biedermann, P. H. W., & Jordal, B. H. (2015). Evolution and diversity of bark and ambrosia beetles. In F. E. Vega & R. W. Hofstetter (Eds.), Bark beetles: Biology and ecology of native and invasive species (pp. 85–156). New York: Academic.

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  6. Morih, H., & Chiba, S. (2009). Sociality improves larval growth in the stag beetle Figulus binodulus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). European Journal of Entomology, 106(3), 379–383.

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  7. Rasa, A. E. (1999). Division of labour and extended parenting in a desert tenebrionid beetle. Ethology, 105, 37–56.

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  9. Ulyshen MD ed. (2018). Ecology and conservation of Passalidae. In Saproxylic insects: Diversity, ecology and conservation (pp. 129–147). Berlin: Springer.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group Insect-Fungus Symbiosis, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Am Hubland, Biocenter, Wuerzburg, Germany

    Peter H. W. Biedermann

  2. Department of Behavioral Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Jon A. Nuotclà

Authors
  1. Peter H. W. Biedermann
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  2. Jon A. Nuotclà
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter H. W. Biedermann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Caura Village, Trinidad and Tobago

    Christopher K. Starr

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Biedermann, P.H.W., Nuotclà, J.A. (2020). Social Beetles. In: Starr, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Insects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_108-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_108-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90306-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90306-4

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