thumb|[[Synchroa punctata larva]]
The Tenebrionoidea are a very large and diverse superfamily of beetles.
It generally corresponds to the Heteromera of earlier authors.
Taxonomy
Tenebrionoidea contains the following families:
- Aderidae Winkler 1927 (ant-like leaf beetles)
- Anthicidae Latreille 1819 (ant-like flower beetles)
- †Apotomouridae Bao et al. 2018
- Archeocrypticidae Kaszab 1964
- Boridae C. G. Thomson 1859
- Chalcodryidae Watt 1974
- Ciidae Leach 1819 (minute tree-fungus beetles) (= Cisidae)
- Ischaliidae Blair, 1920
- Lagrioididae Abdullah & Abdullah, 1968
- Melandryidae Leach 1815 (false darkling beetles)
- Meloidae Gyllenhal 1810 (blister beetles)
- Mordellidae Latreille 1802 (tumbling flower beetles)
- Mycetophagidae Leach 1815 (hairy fungus beetles)
- Mycteridae Blanchard 1845
- Oedemeridae Latreille 1810 (false blister beetles)
- Osphyidae Mulsant, 1856
- Promecheilidae Lacordaire, 1859
- Prostomidae C. G. Thomson 1859
- Pterogeniidae Crowson 1953
- Pyrochroidae Latreille 1807 (fire-colored beetles, etc.)
- Pythidae Solier 1834
- Ripiphoridae Gemminger and Harold 1870 (wedge-shaped beetles) (= Rhipiphoridae)
- Salpingidae Leach 1815 (narrow-waisted bark beetles, etc.)
- Scraptiidae Mulsant 1856 (false flower beetles)
- Stenotrachelidae C. G. Thomson 1859 (false long-horned beetles) (= Cephaloidae)
- Synchroidae Lacordaire 1859
- Tenebrionidae Latreille 1802 (darkling beetles)
- Tetratomidae Billberg 1820
- Trictenotomidae Blanchard 1845
- Ulodidae Pascoe 1869
- Zopheridae Solier 1834 (ironclad beetles, cylindrical bark beetles, etc.)
The largest family by far is Tenebrionidae, with (as of 2014) approximately 20,000 species and almost two-thirds of the species richness of the superfamily.
Morphology
The Tenebrionoidea show a range of different morphologies. However, one characteristic of most adults is having 5 tarsomeres on the fore- and midlegs, and 4 tarsomeres on the hindleg (tarsal formula 5-5-4). Occasionally, males have tarsal formula reduced to 4-4-4, 3-3-3 or 3-4-4.