Thermophilous
Guides
Chelonariidae
turtle beetles
Chelonariidae, commonly known as turtle beetles, is a small family of beetles in the superfamily Byrrhoidea. The family contains approximately 300 described species across three extant genera: Chelonarium, Brounia, and Pseudochelonarium. Members are characterized by heavily sclerotized exoskeletons and a remarkable ability to retract their limbs into socket-like body cavities. Their ecology remains poorly understood, though associations with orchid roots and the nests of ants and termites have been reported.
Hesperia comma
silver-spotted skipper, common branded skipper, Holarctic grass skipper
Hesperia comma is a skipper butterfly in the family Hesperiidae with a Holarctic distribution spanning Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America. The species exhibits strong habitat specificity for warm, open calcareous grasslands with sparse short vegetation. Males are highly territorial, and the species shows sexual dimorphism with males bearing a wide black sex brand on the forewing. In the United Kingdom, it was historically rare and restricted to chalk downlands of southern England but has experienced significant population recovery through targeted conservation efforts.
Neomyia
False Greenbottles
Neomyia is a genus of flies in the family Muscidae, commonly known as False Greenbottles. The genus includes species such as Neomyia cornicina, a coprophagous dung fly that inhabits cattle dung and has been extensively studied as a non-target organism affected by veterinary pharmaceuticals in livestock waste. Species in this genus exhibit thermophilous behavior and adapt their spatial and temporal distribution to climatic conditions.
Orussidae
parasitic wood wasps, parasitoid wood wasps
Orussidae is a small family of approximately 93 extant species of parasitoid sawflies. They occupy a pivotal phylogenetic position as the sister taxon to the megadiverse Apocrita, indicating that parasitism evolved in the common ancestor of Orussidae + Apocrita. Adults are rarely encountered, typically found on sun-exposed dead wood where females use vibrational sounding to locate concealed hosts. Larvae are the only carnivorous sawfly larvae known, acting as parasitoids of wood-boring beetles and other Hymenoptera.