Rove Beetle

Rove beetles are members of the family Staphylinidae, the largest beetle family and one of the largest animal families of any kind, with tens of thousands of described species found in nearly every terrestrial habitat on Earth. Most are recognizable by their elongated, slender body and unusually short wing covers that leave much of the flexible abdomen exposed, which some species curl upward in a scorpion-like threat display when disturbed, and most are active predators of other small invertebrates in soil, leaf litter and decaying matter.