The Bothrideridae are a small but biologically fascinating family of beetles found worldwide. Adults are usually slender, cylindrical to slightly flattened, 1.4–12 mm long (across the entire family); their colour ranges from yellowish through brown to black, with various markings or sheen. The larvae are hypermetamorphic ectoparasitoids, whose first larval instar is a mobile planidium (triungulin stage), which actively seeks out hosts amongst the larvae of longhorn beetles, weevils, wood borers and other wood-destroying insects. Once a host is found, the larva attaches itself, attaches by suction, and completes its development as an ectoparasitoid. Before pupation, it spins a silken cocoon – this characteristic has given them the English common name ‘cocoon-forming beetles’. The generic and specific composition of the family has undergone revisions in recent decades; some groups have been separated from the family into distinct families based on molecular and morphological studies.

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Family Card

Bothrideres bipunctatus