This family has just two British members, both small primitive red and black weevils.  Both species are leaf-rollers, with the female rolling a hostplant leaf tightly around an egg laid on the surface: Attelabus nitens (Scopoli) on oak and Apoderus coryli (L.) on hazel.  They are locally distributed across England and Wales and into Scotland, generally occurring in woodland, hedgerows, parkland, and wherever the hostplants are found.

A small family of 18 primitive weevils, with un-elbowed antennae and long rostrums.  The elytra are often metallic or brightly-coloured.  Most species are relatively hostplant-specific and the larva can often be found developing within leafbuds and young shoots, although Deporaus mannerheimi (Hummel) is a leaf miner on the petioles of birches.  A few species (e.g. Deporaus betulae (L.) in alder or Bycticus betulae (L.) in birch) are leaf-rollers, the female laying an egg on the leaf surface before rolling the leaf up around it for protection.

Nine British species, similar in appearance to Nemonychidae but generally larger (2.5-10mm).  The antennae are long and un-elbowed and the rostrum short and broad.  Two species (Anthribus fasciatus Forster and A. nebulosus Forster) are parasitoids of scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae) and Bruchela rufipes (Olivier) develops in the fruits of Reseda lutea L., but most are found in association with dead wood and fungi.  Perhaps the commonest of the group, Platyrhinus resinosus (Scopoli) is associated with the fungus Daldinia concentrica, King Alfred’s cakes.

Represented in Britain by one species, the 3-5mm Cimberis attelaboides (Fabricius).  This species is black, with yellow-white pubescence and red-brown appendages, and the long rostrum and un-elbowed antennae typical of the primitive weevils.  Larvae feed on pollen within the catkins of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris L.

A large and widespread family with 250 small to medium-sized British members (1-18mm).  Beetles are usually oval or elongate-oval, brightly-coloured or metallic (or both), with filiform, threadlike antennae, and many species are relatively hostplant-specific.  The family has undergone recent taxonomic changes, with species in Orsodacne and Zeugophora elevated to family (Orsodacniidae and Megalopodidae respectively) and the family Bruchidae incorporated into Chrysomelidae.  Consequently there are now nine subfamilies.

Bruchinae contains 15 species known as seed beetles, pea weevils or bean weevils.  They are small (2-5mm) oval brown-grey beetles, usually about as deep as they are wide, with truncate elytra revealing the pygidium and usually with pubescent elytra.  The eyes are obviously notched, which differentiates them from the rest of the Chrysomelidae.  Pollen-feeding adults can be found on white and yellow flowers and larvae develop within the seeds of Fabacaea, either in the field or in storage.

The reed beetles (Donaciinae) comprise 21 species in Britain.  Usually brightly metallic, they are at first glance more similar to Cerambycidae than many other Chrysomelidae.  Donacia and Plateumaris are widespread on reeds and other emergent marginal vegetation, while the two British species of Macroplea are aquatic, and are generally found submerged on pondweeds.

Criocerinae contains eight often brightly-coloured species, including the bright red garden pest Lilioceris lilii (Scopoli) (lily beetle) and the asparagus beetle Crioceris asparagi (L.). Generally elongate, with a narrow thorax compared to the elytra. 

Cryptocephalinae has 24 British species, 20 of them in genus Cryptocephalus.  As the name suggests, these have deflexed heads tucked underneath the pronotum and thus invisible when viewed from above.  Generally brightly-coloured and metallic, many are local or very local, and only a few are common (Cryptocephalus labiatus (L.), C. aureolus Suffrian, C. pusillus Fabricius).  Clytra laeviscula Ratzeburg and Cryptocephalus violaceus Laicharting are thought to be extinct in Britain, while Smaragdina affinis (Illiger) has not been recorded since 1965.

There is one species of subfamily Lamprosomatinae in Britain, the small (2-3mm), beetle Oomorphus concolor (Sturm).  Widespread in broadleaf woodland across England and Wales, the species is black with a bronze irriescence, giving a brassy appearance and can often be found in ivy on tree-trunks.

Similarly, there is just one British species in subfamily Eumolphinae.  The 5-6mm Bromius obscurus (L.) has been found in Cheshire on Epilobum spp. and is black, with orange basal antennal segments and yellow pubescence.

Chrysomelinae contains 43 British species.  Generally brightly-coloured, often metallic beetles, they are largely hostplant-specific.  The Colarado beetle, Leptinotarsa decimlineata Say is famed as a pest of potatoes but has never established in Britain, although the rosemary beetle Chrysolina americana (L.) is now established and widespread as a minor pest of rosemary and lavender.  The group includes the bloody-nosed beetle Timarcha tenebricosa (Fabricius), which reflex-bleeds red fluids from the mouthparts when disturbed.

Subfamily Galerucinae is large, with 147 species recorded in Britain.  The group is split into two tribes, generally of very different forms: the Galerucini, 20 species with simple femora, and the Alticini, 127 species with the hind femora modified and enlarged for jumping (hence their common name, the flea beetles).  Most species are relatively hostplant-specific, feeding on leaves or roots.

Subfamily Cassidinae are the tortoise beetles, and there are 14 British species.  Very distinctive in appearance, broad, extremely dorso-ventrally flattened and with the head completely hidden underneath the pronotum.  Several species (particularly in genus Cassida) are green and well camouflaged on leaves, but a few such as Pilemostoma fastuosa (Schaller) or Cassida murraea L. are red and black.  Hypocassida subferruginea (Schrank) is now thought to be extinct in Britain.

Two British species, both in genus Orsodacne.  Medium-sized (4-8mm) beetles similar in appearance to the Criocerinae (Chrysomelidae), they vary in colour from a shining deep blue to yellow-brown.  The two species can be split using the elytral pubescence: O. cerasi (L.) is virtually glabrous above while O. humeralis (Latreille) (formerly O. lineola (Panzer)) has long, dense pubescence on shinier elytra.

Both species are generally found on flowers, particularly of rowan or hawthorns, in grassland and scrub surrounding broad-leaf woodland.  While O. cerasi is widespread, O. humeralis is a scarce species of southeastern England.

A small family in Britain, with three species in genus Zeugophora.  These are small beetles, either brown or black and orange-yellow in colour.  They are usually found feeding on the leaves of young poplars or aspens, where they cause characteristic damage, skeletonising the leaves by eating small round windows between the veins.  Larvae are leaf-miners, feeding in a black blotch between May and July.

The Cerambycidae is one of the largest beetle families worldwide, and has 68 British members.  Small to large (2.5-30mm) beetles, they are generally of a characteristic elongate appearance, with broad elytral shoulders tapering backwards and antennae usually at least as long as the body length.  Larvae are wood-borers (although Agapanthia villosoviridescens (De Geer) and Phytoecia cylindrica (L.) develop in herbaceous plants), and adults of non-native species are regularly found after emerging from imported timber products, sometimes many years after import.

Adults are often found on flowers (particularly Rutpela maculata (Poda)) or on recently-fallen or felled timber.  The house longhorn Hylotrupes bajulus (L.) is a scarce species formerly a pest in houses by developing in structural timbers.  Several species (including the largest British species, Prionus coriarius (L.)) can stridulate when disturbed, while others (A. villosoviridescens and the musk beetle Aromia moschata (L.)) can produce characteristic scents.

Five species (Lepturobosca virens (L.), Strangalia attenuata (L.), Cerambyx scopolii Füessly, Obrium cantharinum (L.) and Plagionotus arcuatus (L.)) are thought to be extinct in Britain, and the family as a whole is declining.

A family of 14 small (2.5-5mm) beetles in Britain, similar in appearance and habitat preferences to the Mordellidae but without the elongate spine-like pygidium.  Generally black or brown, oval, pubescent beetles found on flowers, particularly of hawthorn, during June, July & August.  The larvae develop in dead wood or leaf litter, although those of Anaspis pulicaria Costa may develop in the stems of woody plants.  Scraptia dubia (Olivier) has not been found in Britain in over a century and is likely to be extinct here, while A. bohemica Schilsky and A. costai Emery are scarce and restricted to the Scottish Highlands and southern England respectively.

A small family with just three British species: the Hylophilidae or Xylophilidae of older literature.  Small (1.5-2.5mm) beetles, they are thought to breed in the heartwood of trees attacked by red rot, particularly oaks (Quercus spp.).  Adults are similar to miniature Cerambycidae in appearance, and have prominent eyes.  Vanonus brevicornis (Perris) is the rarest of the group, with a handful of records scattered across southern England.