Keroplatidae

Keroplatidae View in CoL View at ENA

This family comprises about 1,000 species distributed in more than 100 extant and fossil genera ( Mantič et al. 2020). The family has a wide biogeographic distribution, with most described species from the Palaearctic and Neotropical regions ( Evenhuis 2006). In the Neotropical region, there are more than 30 genera and over 200 species, 90 of which are known from Brazil ( Evenhuis 2006, Falaschi 2024c).

The knowledge about the biology of the group is still poor, and immature stages are unknown for most genera. The larval stage of some genera can be predatory, feeding on small invertebrates, while others are mycophagous, feeding on fungal spores ( Skuse 1888, Matile 1997, Evenhuis 2006, Falaschi et al. 2019a). Adults are often found in damp places with low light, such as the entrance to caves and cavities of rotten trunks near fungi or rocks ( Matile 1997, Evenhuis 2006, Falaschi 2014, 2016c). One species in Brazil, Neoceroplatus betaryensis Falaschi, Johnson & Stevani, 2019 is known to have blue bioluminescence ( Falaschi et al. 2019a, 2019b).