Alexiidae is a small family of beetles, whose members are among the smallest beetles in the Central European fauna. The family comprises a single genus, Sphaerosoma, and approximately 53 species, distributed across the western Palearctic region, from central and southern Europe through Asia Minor to North Africa. These are very small (≈ 1–2 mm), stocky and densely hairy beetles with club-shaped antennae. Members of the family are mycophagous – they are commonly found in leaf litter, under rotting bark and on fungal fruiting bodies, where they collect spores and hyphae. The taxonomy of the family has historically been uncertain (they were previously classified within Cerylonidae / Sphaerosomatidae), but modern morphological and molecular studies place the Alexiidae close to the latridiids within the subfamily Coccinelloidea.

Number of Species:

Family Card

Sphaerosoma globosum

 

Sphaerosoma pilosum

 

Sphaerosoma quercus