The Paederinae is a large subfamily of 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 (Staphylinidae). In terms of phylogenetic relationships, the 14 subfamilies of Staphylinidae can be separated into three subgroups; such a classification system links Paederinae most closely with the subfamilies Stapholinidae and Xantholinidae.

Paederinae includes two tribes, Paederini and Pinophilini.

Three of the genera of Paederina, a subtribe of Paederini, are associated with a skin irritation called Paederus dermatitis

Paederus dermatitis

Paederus dermatitis is skin irritation resulting from contact with the hemolymph of certain rove beetles, a group that includes the genus Paederus...

, due to a potent vesicant in their haemolymph. This irritant is called pederin

Pederin

Pederin is a vesicant toxic amide with two tetrahydropyran rings, found in the haemolymph of the Paederus genus of beetles, including the Nairobi fly, belonging to the Staphylinidae family. It was first characterized by processing 25 million field-collected P. fuscipes. It makes up approximately...

and is highly toxic, more potent than cobra venom.