Staphylinidae

The rove beetles are a family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that typically leave more than half of their abdominal segments exposed. With over 68,000 species in approximately 4,100 genera, the group is one of the largest families in the beetle order and one of the largest families of organisms. They form an ancient group that first appeared during the Middle Jurassic based on definitive records of fossilized rove beetles, with the Late Triassic taxon Leehermania more likely belonging to the Myxophaga. They are an ecologically and morphologically diverse group of beetles and commonly are encountered in terrestrial ecosystems.

Staphylinidae

see in description · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
rove beetlePBDB
Sits inside
StaphylinoideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 165 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 170.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 4 of 1634 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 45 of 1634 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 110 of 1634 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 152 of 1634 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 1634 occurrencesEocene — about 307 of 1634 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 49 of 1634 occurrencesMiocene — about 83 of 1634 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 16 of 1634 occurrencesPleistocene — about 857 of 1634 occurrences174–169 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences169–163 Mya — about 2 occurrences163–157 Mya — about 5 occurrences157–151 Mya — about 19 occurrences151–145 Mya — about 18 occurrences145–139 Mya — about 6 occurrences139–134 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences134–128 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences128–122 Mya — about 40 occurrences122–116 Mya — about 30 occurrences116–110 Mya — about 27 occurrences110–105 Mya — about 5 occurrences105–99 Mya — about 42 occurrences99–93 Mya — about 104 occurrences93–87 Mya — about 5 occurrences87–81 Mya — about 4 occurrences81–76 Mya — about 2 occurrences76–70 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences64–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–52 Mya — about 3 occurrences52–46 Mya — about 15 occurrences46–41 Mya — about 7 occurrences41–35 Mya — about 206 occurrences35–29 Mya — about 83 occurrences29–23 Mya — about 40 occurrences23–17 Mya — about 30 occurrences17–12 Mya — about 35 occurrences12–5.8 Mya — about 16 occurrences5.8–0 Mya — about 887 occurrences165.3 Mya11.7 ka174 Mya0 Mya

1,634 occurrences of Staphylinidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,634 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

65 formations

Titusville Till — 41.62°N, 79.64°WHighbury Silts and Sands — 51.56°N, 0.06°WKap København — 82.47°N, 23.66°WKap København — 82.45°N, 24.10°WKap København — 82.32°N, 23.85°WKap København — 82.47°N, 23.60°WFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 42.74°N, 125.37°EOlympia beds — 47.66°N, 122.43°WKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EQuadra Sand — 49.29°N, 122.88°WQuadra Sand — 49.23°N, 122.78°WScarborough — 43.70°N, 79.24°WScarborough — 43.67°N, 79.32°WOler — 69.50°N, 158.50°EGreen River — 38.90°N, 109.20°WGreen River — 39.00°N, 108.00°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WRott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.60°N, 7.25°EImuruk Volcanics — 65.88°N, 163.13°WShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EGlushkovo — 51.71°N, 116.93°EGlushkovo — 51.92°N, 117.62°ELaiyang — 36.78°N, 120.67°ETurga — 52.96°N, 117.78°ETurga — 50.83°N, 116.19°ECrato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WEifel — 50.11°N, 6.82°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EMogotuin — 44.11°N, 106.93°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Staphylinidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 41 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 843 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Staphylinidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Staphylinidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

6,823 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 360 sites for Staphylinidae, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

302 references

Each of the 1,634 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 290 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Staphylinidae

Credit
see in description
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
tunosemi
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itStaphylinoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Latreille 1802