Tenebrionidae, comprising over 20,000 species in a cosmopolitan distribution.
Tenebrio is the Latin generic name that Carl Linnaeus assigned to some flour beetles in his 10th edition of Systema Naturae 1758–59.[1] The name means "lover of darkness"; the English language term 'darkling' means "characterised by darkness or obscurity";[3] see also English 'tenebrous', figuratively "obscure, gloomy."
Many Tenebrionidae species inhabit dark places; in genera such as Stenocara and Onymacris, they are active by day and inactive at night.
Tenebrionid beetles occupy ecological niches in mainly deserts and forests as plant scavengers. Most species are generalistic omnivores, and feed on decaying leaves, rotting wood, fresh plant matter, dead insects, and fungi as larvae and adults.[10] Several genera, including Bolitotherus, are specialized fungivores which feed on polypores. Many of the larger species are flightless, and those that are capable, such as T. molitor, often rarely do so.
Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family
The larvae, known as mealworms or false wireworms, are usually fossorial, heavily sclerotized and nocturnal. They may possibly be an important resource for certain invertebrates and small mammals. Adults of many species have chemical defenses and are relatively protected against predators. Adults of most species, except grain pests, have slow metabolisms, and live long lives compared to other insects, ranging from approximately six months to two years.
Some species live in intensely dry deserts such as the Namib, and have evolved adaptions by which they collect droplets of fog that deposit on their elytra. As the droplets accumulate the water drains down the beetles' backs to their mouthparts, where they swallow it.
Humans spread some species such that they have become cosmopolitan, such as Tribolium castaneum, the red flour beetle, which was spread through grain products.
