The HYBOSORIDAE Family

This page was draw up by Stefano Ziani.

The family contains about 220 species (5.0 to 16.0 mm long), grouped in more than 30 genera, worldwide distributed. Little is known about the biology of adults: they feed on dung, carrion, fungi, or rotting wood and some are found in ant's and termite's nests. Some hybosorid species are known to have predaceous behaviour, a very rare feeding specialization in the superfamily.

Only seven genera are present in the Palearctic region, and three of them, Brenskea Reitter, 1891, Hybosorus MacLeay, 1819 and Seleucosorus Kuijten, 1983, occur in the Levant, with one species each.


Genus Brenskea Reitter, 1891


Brenskea coronata Reitter, 1891 - Egypt Sinai, Israel/Palestine
[syn. B.varentzowi Semenov, 1896 -Egypt Sinai]

Genus Hybosorus MacLeay, 1819


Hybosorus illigeri Reitter, 1891 - Egypt Sinai, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Syria
[syn. H.roei Westwood, 1846 - Israel]

Genus Seleucosorus Kuijten, 1983


Seleucosorus punctatissimus (Reiche, 1861) - Syria