The family Cerylonidae comprises a small group of tiny, smooth and shiny beetles, usually hunting or living under bark or in decaying wood and litter. Individual species are mostly very small (typically 1–4 mm), often with an elongated to slightly flattened body and distinctly segmented antennae, ending in a club-shaped tip. Although they occur in all major zoogeographical regions of the world, they are most numerous in the tropics and subtropics. The biology of many species remains poorly understood; the literature generally states that they feed on fungi (hyphae, spores), slime moulds (myxomycetes) or small invertebrates – some authors also mention predation. Some species are myrmecophiles, living in ant nests. Genera and subfamilies within this group have been the subject of revisions in the past, which is also reflected in the varying definitions of the family across different faunistic surveys.

Number of Species:

Family Card

Cerylon bescidicum

 

Cerylon fagi

 

Cerylon ferrugineum

 

Cerylon histeroides

 

Cerylon impressum

 

Philothermus evanescens