The family Limnichidae comprises a group of small to very small beetles that are closely associated with damp habitats near water. Most species inhabit the banks of flowing and standing waters, coastal sands, muddy edges of pools or river floodplains, often in areas overgrown with algae, moss or fine detritus; however, some members of the fauna also live in leaf litter or in the soil of damp forests. Adults are usually only about 1–2 mm long, oval, strongly arched and inconspicuously brown to black in colour, often with fine, appressed hairs. Both larvae and adults feed primarily on algae and mosses, or detritus, and thus contribute to the decomposition of organic matter in the littoral zone. The family is distributed almost worldwide, with the greatest species diversity in the tropics, whilst in the temperate zone it is represented by a smaller number of genera and species. In Central Europe, it is a thermophilic and rare family associated with well-preserved, undisturbed riverbanks.

Number of Species:

Family Card

Limnichus incanus

 

Limnichus pygmaeus

 

Limnichus sericeus

 

Pelochares versicolor