Rove beetle

Rove beetle

The rove beetles are a large family of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. With over 46,000 species in thousands of genera, the group is the second largest family of beetles after the Curculionidae...

s of the genus Aleochara are among the only insect parasites in the beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

 family Staphylinidae. Most of the Aleochara are more rightly called parasitoid

Parasitoid

A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life history attached to or within a single host organism in a relationship that is in essence parasitic; unlike a true parasite, however, it ultimately sterilises or kills, and sometimes consumes, the host...

s because their larvae use a single host, which is killed during the beetle's maturation. Adult Aleochara are predators. Life histories are known for only a few species.

Aleochara are found worldwide except in Antarctica. There are more than 400 species (Maus et al. 1998). The adults of many species can be found near dung or carrion, feeding commonly on the eggs, larvae, and puparia

Muscomorpha

The Brachyceran infraorder Muscomorpha is a large and diverse group of flies, containing the bulk of the Brachycera, and, in fact, most of the known flies. It includes a number of the most familiar flies, such as the housefly, the fruit fly and the blowfly. The antennae are short, usually...

 of various scathophagous and necrophagous Diptera

Diptera

Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...

 (Klimazewski 1984). For those species whose life histories are known, the larvae utilize fly puparia as their hosts.

The most extensively studied aleocharine rove beetle is Aleochara bilineata Gyllenhal, which is a significant biological control

Biological pest control

Biological control of pests in agriculture is a method of controlling pests that relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms...

 agent against some fly pests (notably Delia

Delia (genus)

The genus Delia is part of the fly family Anthomyiidae.The genus Delia contains approximately 300–340 species worldwide . At present about 170 species are recorded from the Palaearctic Region, and 162 species from the Nearctic Region, 44 of which are Holarctic. Afrotropical fauna includes 20 Delia...

spp. in the family Anthomyiidae

Anthomyiidae

Anthomyiidae is a large and diverse family of Muscoidea flies. Name came from Greek "anthos" + "myia" . Some species are commonly called "root-maggots", as the larvae are found in the stems and roots of various plants...

) of agricultural crops in the mustard and cabbage family Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae, a medium sized and economically important family of flowering plants , are informally known as the mustards, mustard flowers, the crucifers or the cabbage family....

, such as cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

, rutabaga

Rutabaga

The rutabaga, swede , turnip or yellow turnip is a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip; see Triangle of U...

, canola

Canola

Canola refers to a cultivar of either Rapeseed or Field Mustard . Its seeds are used to produce edible oil suitable for consumption by humans and livestock. The oil is also suitable for use as biodiesel.Originally, Canola was bred naturally from rapeseed in Canada by Keith Downey and Baldur R...

, and many others.

Species include:

• Aleochara bilineata
• Aleochara wrightii, named after Jane Wright, the entomologist who discovered it

Other sources

• Klimaszewski, J. 1984. A revision of the genus Aleochara Gravenhorst in America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae). Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 129: 1-211.
• Maus, C., B. Mittman, K. Peschke. 1998. Host records of parasitoid Aleochara Gravenhorst species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) attacking puparia of cyclorrhapheous Diptera. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 45: 231-254.