Zopherinae

{{Short description|Subfamily of beetles}}

{{stack begin}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Ironclad beetles

| image = Ironclad_Beetle.jpg

| image_caption = Ironclad beetle, Zopherus nodulosus haldemani

| taxon = Zopherinae

| authority = Solier, 1834

| subdivision_ranks = Tribes

| subdivision_ref =

| subdivision =

• Latometini Ślipiński and Lawrence, 1999
• Monommatini Blanchard, 1845
• Phellopsini Ślipiński and Lawrence, 1999
• Pycnomerini Erichson, 1845
• Usechini Horn, 1867
• Zopherini Solier, 1834

}}

{{Wikispecies|Zopherinae}}

{{stack end}}

Zopherinae is a subfamily of beetles, commonly known as ironclad beetles. Together with the subfamily Usechinae, they have been treated historically as a family, but have recently been joined by several additional taxa, making the Zopheridae a much larger composite family, and the Zopherinae are now only a small component within it, consisting of seven genera in the tribe Zopherini and one, Phellopsis in its own tribe (Phellopsini).

These beetles are apparently fungivores and associated with rotting wood, and as the common name implies, have one of the hardest of all arthropod exoskeletons; in some species, it is almost impossible to drive an insect pin through their bodies without using a small drill to make a hole first.

When disturbed, ironclad beetles play dead.

Some species in the genus Zopherus in Mexico are decorated with costume jewelry glued to their bodies, and sold as living brooches, known as ma'kech.{{cite press release |title=CBP Officers Intercept Live Beetle Worn as Jewelry at Brownsville Port of Entry |publisher=US Customs and Border Patrol |date=20 January 2010 |url=https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/2010-01-20-050000/cbp-officers-intercept-live-beetle-worn-jewelry |access-date=9 May 2016}}