Cantharis

{{Short description|Genus of beetles}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Soldier beetle (Cantharis fusca) mating P.jpg

| image_caption = Cantharis fusca mating
Kampinos Forest, Poland

| display_parents = 3

| taxon = Cantharis

| authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

| synonyms =

}}

Cantharis is a large genus of soldier beetles in the family Cantharidae with narrow and soft elytra. The poisonous Spanish fly is superficially similar and is associated with the scientific name Cantharis vesicatoria. It is also sometimes called "cantharis" in the vernacular, but it is actually unrelated to Cantharis and is not a member of the Cantharidae at all. It was classified there erroneously until Johan Christian Fabricius corrected its name in his Systema entomologiae in 1775.

He reclassified the Spanish fly in the new genus Lytta as Lytta vesicatoria. It belongs to the family Meloidae.Selander, R. B. (1991). [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1415&context=insectamundi On the nomenclature and classification of Meloidae (Coleoptera)]. Insecta Mundi 5(2): 65–94.

European species

= Subgenus ''Cantharis'' =

File:Cantharis decipiens.jpg

File:Cantharis lateralis (2007-06-12).jpg

File:Cantharis livida var rufipes 01 05252009.jpg]]

File:Soldier beetle (Cantharis pellucida).jpg

File:Soldier beetle (Cantharis rustica).jpg

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= Subgenus ''Cyrtomoptila'' =

See also

References and notes

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Wittmer W., Kasantsev S. (1997) On the classification of the genus Cantharis Linné (Coleoptera, Cantharidae). Entomologica Basiliensia 20: 367–372.