Cucujidae

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Cucujidae
Temporal range: Eocene–Present
Cucujus coccinatus.JPG
Cucujus cocccinatus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Superfamily: Cucujoidea
Family: Cucujidae
Latreille, 1802
Genera

Cucujus
Palaestes
Pediacus
Platisus
Thesaurus

The Cucujidae, or flat bark beetles, are a family of distinctively flat beetles found worldwide (except Africa and Antarctica) under the bark of dead trees. The family has received considerable taxonomic attention in recent years and now consists of 70 species distributed in five genera. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] It was indicated Cucujus species are scavengers, only feeding on pupae and larvae of other insects and on other subcortical beetles such as their own. Since the Cucujidae prey on larvae of potentially tree damaging beetles that spread fungal diseases, they are considered to be beneficial to the health of living trees. [7]

Dorsal habitus of Palaestes abruptus PalaestesMontage.jpg
Dorsal habitus of Palaestes abruptus

Included genera are: Cucujus Fabricius, with 14 species and subspecies distributed throughout the Holarctic; Palaestes Perty, 8 spp., Neotropical; Pediacus Shuckard, 31 spp., mostly Holarctic, but extending south into the Neotropics and to Australia; Platisus Erichson, 5 spp. in Australia and New Zealand, and Thesaurus known from South America.

Dorsal habitus of Platisus coloniarius. Platisus coloniarus habitus.jpg
Dorsal habitus of Platisus coloniarius.

Cucujidae have elongate parallel-side bodies ranging from 6 to 25 mm in length. Most are brown colored, while others are black, reddish or yellow. Heads are triangular in shape, with filiform to moniliform antennae of 11 antennomeres, and large mandibles. The pronotum is narrower than the head. [8] [9]

Dorsal habitus of Pediacus subglaber Pediacus subglaberMontage.jpg
Dorsal habitus of Pediacus subglaber

Both larvae and adults live under bark, otherwise little is known of their habits. [10] [11] Larvae and adults appear to be predacious. [10] [11] Cucujus cinnaberinus seems to be able to colonize isolated habitats from persisting local populations if there is a sufficient quantity of suitable deadwood in the habitat and it has the other requirements of saproxylic beetles. [12]

The family was formerly larger, with subfamilies Laemophloeinae, Silvaninae, and Passandrinae (and some tenebrionoid genera mixed in), but revisions have raised the subfamilies to family status. [8]

While there have been claimed fossil records going back to the Early Cretaceous (such as those from the Crato Formation of Brazil), the oldest unambiguous records are from the Eocene. [11]

Species with extreme freezing tolerance

Cucujus clavipes puniceus (red flat bark beetle) found in arctic regions like Canada and Alaska [13] desiccates to 30–40% body water in winter vs 4% body water in the chironomid fly, Polypedilum vanderplanki . It uses a variety of anti-freeze proteins [14] [15] in contrast with the non-protein xylomannan exploited by another arctic beetle Upis ceramboides . [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cucujoidea</span> Superfamily of beetles

Cucujoidea is a superfamily of beetles. This group formerly included all of the families now included in the superfamily Coccinelloidea. They include some fungus beetles and a diversity of lineages of "bark beetles" unrelated to the "true" bark beetles (Scolytinae), which are weevils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corylophidae</span> Family of beetles

Corylophidae is a family of minute hooded beetles, sometimes called minute fungus beetles, in the superfamily Coccinelloidea. There are about 18 genera and at least 120 described species in Corylophidae. They feed on microfungi such as molds, and are often found associated with bark, as well as in leaf litter and other decaying vegetation. In older literature, the family name was often given as Orthoperidae.

<i>Cucujus cinnaberinus</i> Species of beetle

Cucujus cinnaberinus is a species of beetles in the family Cucujidae, the flat bark beetles. It is native to Europe, being most common in Central Europe and rare in much of Southern and Western Europe.

<i>Cucujus</i> Genus of beetles

Cucujus is a genus of beetles in the family Cucujidae, the flat bark beetles. It contains 19 currently recognized species and subspecies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prionoceridae</span> Family of beetles

Prionoceridae is a small family of beetles, in the suborder Polyphaga. They form a group within the cleroid beetles and were formerly treated as a subfamily (Prionocerinae) within the family Melyridae. Very little is known of their life history but most species are pollen feeders as adults and occur in large numbers during spring or the host flowering season. Larvae are predatory or feed on decomposing wood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laemophloeidae</span> Family of beetles

Laemophloeidae, "lined flat bark beetles," is a family in the superfamily Cucujoidea characterized by predominantly dorso-ventrally compressed bodies, head and pronotal discs bordered by ridges or grooves, and inverted male genitalia. Size range of adults is 1–5 mm (0.04–0.2 in) in length. Currently, it contains 40 genera and about 450 species, and is represented on all continents except Antarctica; species richness is greatest in the tropics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silvanidae</span> Family of beetles

Silvanidae, "silvan flat bark beetles", is a family of beetles in the superfamily Cucujoidea, consisting of 68 described genera and about 500 described species. The family is represented on all continents except Antarctica, and is most diverse at both the generic and species levels in the Old World tropics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phloeostichidae</span> Family of beetles

Phloeostichidae is a family of beetles in the superfamily Cucujoidea. They are typically found under the bark of dead trees. Larvae have been found to consume plant tissue and some fungi, while the adults appear to be exclusively fungivores. The family contains four extant genera, Phloeostichus is native to the Palearctic, Rhopalobrachium is native to central-southern South America and eastern Australia, Hymaea is native to southeastern Australia, and Bunyastichus is found in Tasmania.

<i>Upis ceramboides</i> Species of beetle

Upis ceramboides is a species of beetle, one of many wood-living insects that benefit from forest fires. It often occurs in quantities below the bark on the fire-damaged birches, but can sometimes be seen on other deciduous trees such as willow and aspen. The larvae thrive in the inner bark which is rich in mycelia, and in the sapwood. They develop into pupae during the summer months under the bark, and they develop over two or three years. The following spring they reproduce themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passandridae</span> Family of beetles

Passandridae, the "parasitic flat bark beetles," are a family of beetles notable for being one of the very few beetle families with larvae that are, as far as known, exclusively ectoparasitic on the immature stages of other beetles and Hymenoptera.

<i>Palaestes</i> Genus of beetles

Palaestes is a genus of beetles in the family Cucujidae. It contains eight currently recognized species. Like all members of the Cucujidae, adults are greatly dorso-ventrally compressed. All known species of Palaestes are brightly colored red or yellow and black, and the males have curiously modified mandibles that look like ice tongs; female mandibles are not modified. Palaestes shares with the Australian-New Zealand genus Platisus the character of the male genitalia, which lacks a flagellum, lying on its side in the abdomen, versus inverted in Cucujus and Pediacus.

<i>Pediacus</i> Genus of beetles

Pediacus is the largest genus in the family Cucujidae of flat bark beetles. It contains 31 currently recognized species. Pediacus adults are relatively small (2.7-7.0mm), flattened brownish beetles with no or very small temples, and short antennae with a distinct club. Male genitalia are inverted and possess a short flagellum.

<i>Cucujus clavipes</i> Species of beetle

Cucujus clavipes is known as the flat bark beetle. It is found throughout North America. These are generally found near tree line under bark of dead poplar and ash trees. C. clavipes are described as phloem-feeding and often predators of other small insects, such as wood-boring beetles, and mites. These are usually seen during spring-summer seasons. Having a cold habitat, these beetles must go through several physiological mechanisms to survive; they are recognised for their ability to change their overwintering mechanisms.

<i>Pediacus depressus</i> Species of beetle

Pediacus depressus is a species of flat bark beetle in the family Cucujidae. It is found in Europe and Northern Asia.

Pediacus ommatodon is a species of flat bark beetle in the family Cucujidae. It is found in North America.

<i>Pediacus subglaber</i> Species of beetle

Pediacus subglaber is a species of flat bark beetle in the family Cucujidae. It is found in North America.

Pediacus stephani is a species of flat bark beetle in the family Cucujidae. It is found in North America.

Pediacus andrewsi is a species of flat bark beetle in the family Cucujidae. It is found in North America.

<i>Myrabolia</i> Genus of beetles

Myrabolia is the only genus in the beetle family Myraboliidae in the superfamily Cucujoidea. It has about 13 species, found in Australia. Adults and possibly larvae live under the bark of Eucalyptus trees.

<i>Peltis</i> Family of beetles

Peltis is a genus of beetles found in North America and Europe, and the sole extant member of the family Peltidae, formerly included in the Trogossitidae. Members of this genus are dark, averaging from brown, to dark brown, to black. They are small, wide, and flat-bodied with wide, ridged elytra. Fossil species of this genus are known from the Eocene aged Florissant Formation of the United States, as well as the Baltic amber of Europe.

References

  1. C. F. Lee and A. Pütz. (2008) A new species of Cucujus Fabricius, 1775 from China and key to the east–Palaearctic species of the genus (Coleoptera: Cucujidae). Entomologische Zeitschrift 118 (5): 211–213.
  2. C. F. Lee and M. Satô. (2007) A Review of the Genus Cucujus Fabricius (Insecta: Cucujoidea: Cucujidae) from Taiwan, Japan, and China, with Descriptions of Two New Species and the Larvae of Cucujus mniszechi Grouvelle. Zoological Studies 46: 311–321.
  3. Teresa Bonacci, Antonio Mazzei, Jakub Horákand, and Pietro Brandmayr. 2012. Cucujus tulliae sp. n. – an endemic Mediterranean saproxylic beetle from genus Cucujus Fabricius, 1775 (Coleoptera, Cucujidae), and keys for identification of adults and larvae native to Europe. Zookeys. 2012; (212): 63–79.
  4. John W. M. Marris and Adam Ślipiński. 2014. A revision of the Pediacus Shuckard 1839 (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) of Asia and Australasia. Zootaxa 3754(1): 32–58.
  5. Michael C. Thomas. 2004. A revision of Pediacus Shuckard (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) for America north of Mexico, with notes on other species. Insecta Mundi 17: 157–177 (2003).
  6. J. C. Watt, J. W. M. Marris and J. Klimazsewski. 2001. A new species of Platisus (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) from New Zealand, described from the adult and larva. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 31: 327–339.
  7. Bonacci, T., Mazzei, A., Naccarato, A., Elliani, R., Tagarelli, A., & Brandmayr, P. (2018). Beetles “IN red”: Are the ENDANGERED FLAT bark beetles CUCUJUS Cinnaberinus and c. Haematodes Chemically protected? (coleoptera: Cucujidae). The European Zoological Journal, 85(1), 128–136. doi : 10.1080/24750263.2018.1449906
  8. 1 2 Michael C. Thomas (2002). "Family 82. Cucujidae Latreille 1802. Pp. 329–330". In Ross H. Arnett Jr.; Michael C. Thomas; Paul E. Skelley; J. H. Frank (eds.). American Beetles. Vol. 2. Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press, Boca Raton. pp. xiv + 861.
  9. Michael C. Thomas and R.A.B. Leschen. 2010. Cucujidae Latreille, 1802. p. 350–354. In: Leschen, R.A.B., R.G. Beutel, and J.F. Lawrence. Coleoptera, Beetles. Vol. 2: Morphology and Systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim). Handbook of Zoology. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
  10. 1 2 D. B. Smith and M. K. Sears. 1982. Mandibular structure and feeding habits of three morphologically similar coleopterous larvae: Cucujus clavipes (Cucujidae), Dendroides canadensis (Pyrochroidae), and Pytho depressus (Salpingidae). Canadian Entomologist 114: 173–175.
  11. 1 2 3 Jin, Mengjie; Zwick, Andreas; Ślipiński, Adam; Marris, John W. M.; Thomas, Michael C.; Pang, Hong (April 2020). "A comprehensive phylogeny of flat bark beetles (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) with a revised classification and a new South American genus". Systematic Entomology. 45 (2): 248–268. doi:10.1111/syen.12392. ISSN   0307-6970. S2CID   216193827.
  12. HORAK, J., VAVROVA, E., & CHOBOT, K. (2010). Habitat preferences Influencing POPULATIONS, distribution and conservation of the Endangered Saproxylic beetle CUCUJUS cinnaberinus (coleoptera: Cucujidae) at the landscape level. European Journal of Entomology, 107(1), 81–88. doi : 10.14411/eje.2010.011
  13. 1 2 Ned Rozell (Oct 2007). "Alaska beetles survive 'unearthly' temperatures".
  14. Carrasco MA, Buechler SA, Arnold RJ, Sformo T, Barnes BM, Duman JG (Feb 2012). "Investigating the deep supercooling ability of an Alaskan beetle, Cucujus clavipes puniceus, via high throughput proteomics". J Proteomics. 75 (4): 1220–34. doi:10.1016/j.jprot.2011.10.034. PMID   22094879.
  15. Sformo T, Walters K, Jeannet K, Wowk B, Fahy GM, Barnes BM, Duman JG (Feb 1, 2010). "Deep supercooling, vitrification and limited survival to −100{degrees}C in the Alaskan beetle Cucujus clavipes puniceus (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) larvae". J Exp Biol. 213 (3): 502–9. doi: 10.1242/jeb.035758 . PMID   20086136.