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photo gallery of the beetle fauna of Germany

The 4 to 6 mm large larder beetle Megatoma undata (family Dermestidae) is the only representative of the genus in Germany. Worldwide, the genus comprises 21 species, thereof seven in the Palearctic, twelve in the Nearctic, one in the Indomalaya ecozone and one is of holarctic distribution. Megatoma undata is known to occur from Europe to Siberia. The larva develops in the nests of Mason bees and other hymenopterans, where it feeds on the remains of dead insects and probably also pollen. The beetles can be found on old wood populated by hymenopterans, on sun-exposed walls of clay-pits as well as on house walls in rural regions, occasionally in blossoms. In Germany, recent records are known from all Federal States. Megatoma undata is not very often recorded and is regarded as vulnerable (RL 3).