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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Somaticus say to its date? You're a cell-abration.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tar darkling beetles
S. aeneus, subtribe Trachynotina
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Family: Tenebrionidae
Tribe: Sepidiini
Genus: Somaticus
Hope, 1840[1]

The tar darkling beetles (Somaticus) are an Afrotropical genus of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae). Adults are omnivorous scavengers, and the larvae, known as false wireworms, feed on plant roots.[2] The larvae of several species are known to damage maize crops.[3] The adults are matte black with longitudinal ridges on the pronotum and elytra, and may be covered in hairs of different colours.[2]

Species include:

References

[edit]
  1. Hope, F. W. (1840). "Somaticus Hope". The Coleopterist's Manual. Vol. 3. London: J. C. Bridgewater. p. 117.
  2. 1 2 Picker, M.; et al. (2004). Field guide to Insects of South Africa. Cape Town: Struik. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-77007-061-5.
  3. Drinkwater, T.W. (1991). "Morphology of and key to the larvae of six somaticus spp coleoptera tenebrionidae". Journal of African Zoology. 105 (6): 509–536.