ABSTRACT
Beetles are minute to large insects, with biting mouthparts adapted for chewing. The body is covered by a hard, often brightly coloured, metallic-looking exoskeleton, and the forewings are typically modified into horny or leathery elytra, which usually meet in a straight line along the back. Ground beetles form a very large group of small to large beetles, with over 40,000 known species world-wide. The hindwings of ground beetles may be fully formed, but the flight muscles are frequently atrophied, rendering the beetles incapable of flight. The genus Dromius includes several arboreal species, of which the widely distributed and frequently common species D. quadrimaculatus occurs on a wide range of broadleaved and coniferous trees. Anchomenus dorsalis is a common, widely distributed ground beetle, which often aggregates under stones during the daytime. Carrion beetles or burying beetles, both all-embracing vernacular names for members of the family Silphidae, comprise not only scavenging, carcass-disposing beetles, but also various, essentially epigaeic species.
