adephaga

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. A group of voracious, carnivorous, and predatory beetles, composing a part of the pentamerous division of the order Coleoptera. They have filiform antennæ and but two palpi to each maxilla. Of the four families which make up this group, two, Gyrinidæ and Dytiscidæ, are aquatic, and sometimes called Hydradephaga; the other two, Carabidæ and Cicindelidæ, are chiefly terrestrial, and are sometimes called Geodephaga. The whirligig and the tiger-beetle respectively exemplify these two divisions of Adephaga. Also called Carnivora. See cuts under Dytiscus and Cicindela.