COLEOPTERA > POLYPHAGA > CUCUJOIDEA > Kateretidae

Kateretidae is a small family with just 9 British species, all of which are pretty small (> 4mm), rather drab, generally dark brown to black beetles. A key feature of this family is that the elytra is truncated exposing the pygidium and at least one abdominal segment.

There are three genera, Kateretes, Brachypterus and Brachypterolus. The three Kateretes species occur in wetland areas on rushes and sedges in the spring, later dispersing. The most attractive is Kateretes pusillus, which is variable, but typically brick-red in colour with dark elytral margins. It can be found in all types of wetland habitats from marshes, on river banks or even along damp woodland borders.

Brachypterus glaber and Brachypterus urticae are relatively common and often abundant, and regularly found together on nettles or umbellifers in a wide range of habitats.

There are four Brachypterolus species; two native forms, Brachypterolus linariae and Brachypterolus pulicarius, that are widely distributed and found in the flowers of toadflax; and two introduced, much rarer and more localised species, Brachypterolus antirrhini and Brachypterolus vestitus, that only occur in the south, and are found almost exclusively on antirrhinum flowers.

Brachypterolus pulicarius and Brachypterolus vestitus are very similar, but can almost certainly be separated simply by the flower they're on - the former on yellow or purple toadflax, the latter on antirrhinum.