 darkling beetle is the common name of the large family of beetles, tenebrionidae. the number of species in the tenebrionidae is estimated at more than 20,000 and the family is cosmopolitan. in fact, human transport has spread several individual species accidentally, so that each of them has become cosmopolitan. examples include tribolium castaneum and other now-cosmopolitan pests of stored products. ==taxonomy and naming== the name tenebrionidae means roughly: "those that are like tenebrio"; tenebrio was the latin generic name that linnaeus had assigned to some flour beetles in his 10th edition of systema naturae 1758-59.caroli linnÃ¦i. animalium specierum tenebrio in turn literally means "seeker of dark places" or figuratively a trickster. in english "darkling" is a more or less literal translation of tenebrio, meaning "dweller in dark". many species do in fact inhabit dark places, but there are exceptions; for example many species of tenebrionidae in genera such as stenocara and onymacris are active by day and inactive at night. the name tenebrionidae accordingly reflects the knowledge available to the taxonomists who first assigned the name; it is not a general reflection of tenebrionid biology. the family tenebrionidae not only includes a large number of species, but an immensely varied range of forms, so much so that it presents great difficulties in classification. taxonomic work still is in progress, but the following list of subfamilies was largely accepted in 2005.bouchard, patrice. lawrence,john f. davies, anthony e. newton, alfred f. synoptic classification of the world tenebrionidae (insecta: coleoptera) with a review of family-group names. annales zoologici (warszawa), 2005, 55(4): 499-530 * alleculinae laporte, 1840 * cossyphodinae wasmann, 1899 * diaperinae latreille, 1802 * lagriinae l
Tenebrionidae