Malthodes
Kiesenwetter, 1852
soldier beetles
Species Guides
8- Malthodes arcifer(soldier beetle)
- Malthodes curvatus
- Malthodes fragilis(soldier beetle)
- Malthodes fuliginosus
- Malthodes macnabi
- Malthodes oregonus
- Malthodes parvulus
- Malthodes spado(soldier beetle)
Malthodes is a of soldier beetles in the Cantharidae, containing at least 120 described . The genus has a long evolutionary history, with fossil relatives dating back to the Late Cretaceous (~99 million years ago). Extant species are distributed across the Palaearctic region, including Europe, the Caucasus, and East Asia. The genus is taxonomically active, with new species described recently from Japan and the Greater Caucasus.
Pronunciation
How to pronounce Malthodes: //ˈmælθoʊdiːz//
These audio files are automatically generated. While they are not always 100% accurate, they are a good starting point.
Images
Distribution
Palaearctic region; recorded from Greater Caucasus (including South Ossetia, Georgia and vicinity of Anapa), western Japan, Russian Far East, and Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden). Fossil relatives known from Eocene Baltic amber (~40 million years ago) and Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber (~99 million years ago).
Similar Taxa
- ArchaeomalthodesFossil from Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber considered an ancient relative of Malthodes based on morphological similarity and shared tribal placement in Malthodini; represents stem lineage from which modern Malthodes likely diverged
Sources and further reading
- BugGuide
- Wikipedia
- GBIF taxonomy match
- iNaturalist taxon
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Catalogue of Life
- New Soldier Beetle Species Found in 99-million-year-old Amber
- Two new species and a new distribution record of the genus Malthodes Kiesenwetter (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) from Japan, with notes on the male and female abdominal morphology
- New species of Malthodes Kiesenwetter, 1852 (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) from the Greater Caucasus, with notes on distribution of the genus in the area
- Dalle foreste eoceniche del Mar Baltico alla foresta di Vallombrosa. Un viaggio di 40 milioni di anni di un minuscolo insetto: Malthodes vallombrosa Parisi & Fanti, 2024 (Coleoptera: Cantharidae)
- The genome sequence of the soldier beetle, Malthodes minimus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Cantharidae).