| Discheramocephalus brucei | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Ptiliidae |
| Genus: | Discheramocephalus |
| Species: | D. brucei |
| Binomial name | |
| Discheramocephalus brucei Grebennikov, 2007 | |
Discheramocephalus brucei is a species of feather-winged beetle, the smallest beetles on earth, first found in Cameroon. [1]
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera, in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal species; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.
Staphylinoidea is a superfamily of beetles. It is a very large and diverse group with worldwide distribution.
The family Archeocrypticidae is a small group of beetles with no vernacular common name, though recent authors have coined the name cryptic fungus beetles. Adults and larvae seems to be saprophagous and are often found in plant litter. Worldwide, about 10 genera and 50 species are found, most species are pantropical. Enneboeus caseyi has been recorded from the American South, Central America, and Mexico. About 20 species are found in Australia, in the genera Enneboeus,Australenneboeus and Gondwanenneboeus,Archeocrypticus,Falsoplatydema, Nothenneboeus, Sivacrypticus and Wattianus. They are largely absent from the Palearctic and Nearctic regions.
Ptiliidae is a family of very tiny beetles with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are colloquially called featherwing beetles, because the hindwings are narrow and feathery.
Baranowskiella ehnstromi is the smallest known beetle in Europe. It lives only in the pores of the bracket fungus Phellinus conchatus, which grows on Salix caprea, and Phellinus punctatus, which grows on various deciduous trees. Its length is ca. 0.45–0.55 millimetres (0.018–0.022 in) and its width about 0.1 millimetres (0.0039 in).
Baeocrara is a genus of featherwing beetles named because of the intricate structure of their flight wings, which have a long fringe of hairs on their borders. They belong to the Ptiliidae family, and are minute: between 1 and 0.5 mm. They are mostly found in hollow fir stumps and other types of rotten wood, dung and plant detritus. They feed on fungal spores. They seem to be recent immigrants to Northern Europe possibly introduced by the import of sawmill products. They have been reported in the Czech Republic. They are one of the least known groups in the Coleoptera.
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.
Pteryx is a genus of beetles that is typically found in northern bogs in the Northern Hemisphere. They belong to the family Ptiliidae which is referred to as feather-winged beetles as the hindwings are narrow and feather-like. Like most of the rest of the family, Pteryx are very small and live in rotting vegetative matter. They prefer rotting wood and are generally found under the bark of rotting logs or stumps.
Scydosella is a genus of beetles that consists of only one species Scydosella musawasensis. The species is regarded as the smallest free-living insect, as well as the smallest beetle. They are among featherwing beetle, named because of their feather-like spiny wings. It was first discovered in Nicaragua, and described in 1999 by Wesley Eugene Hall of the University of Nebraska State Museum. The initial discovery consisted of very few specimens, and exact measurements were not conclusive. Because of their tiny size, they were difficult to observe under microscope after preservation. The generally accepted size was 0.300 mm in length. On 8 February 2015, Alexey Polilov of the Lomonosov Moscow State University collected 85 specimens in Chicaque National Park, Colombia. They were discovered on a layer of fungus on which they feed. From these specimens exact measurements could be made, and was found that the smallest individual is only 0.325 mm long. The largest individual is 0.352 mm long, and the average length of all the specimens is 0.338 mm. The body is elongated and oval in shape, yellowish-brown in colour, and its antennae are split into 10 segments.
Discheramocephalus elisabethae is a species of feather-winged beetle, the smallest beetles on earth, first found in Cameroon.
Discheramocephalus mikaeli is a species of feather-winged beetle, the smallest beetles on earth, first found in Tanzania.
Discheramocephalus stewarti is a species of feather-winged beetle, the smallest beetles on earth, first found in Bolivia.
Discheramocephalus jarmilae is a species of feather-winged beetle, the smallest beetles on earth, first found in Bolivia.
Discheramocephalus minutissimus is a species of feather-winged beetle, the smallest beetles on earth, first found in Indonesia. This species' adults have a body length of approximately 400 to 426µm. According to Grebennikov, the main factor limiting miniaturisation of female insects is an egg size significant enough in size to produce viable larvae. This size threshold is sometimes overcome, reaching limits of 180 and 130 µm in females and males, respectively, according to the author. Brain size is possibly the second most important factor limiting miniaturisation in this class.
Baranowskiella is a genus of beetles in the Ptiliidae family.
Trichoferus campestris, the velvet longhorned beetle, is a species of long-horned beetle in the family Cerambycidae.
Discheramocephalus is a genus of feather-winged beetles, the smallest beetles on earth, first found in Cameroon. It was originally described in 2007 as a monotypic genus. Six additional species were added in 2008, and two were added in 2013.
Discheramocephalus semisulcatus is a species of feather-winged beetle, the smallest beetles on earth.
Discheramocephalini is a tribe of feather-winged beetles first proposed in 2009. It contains six extant genera, and one extinct genus.
Phaeochrous emarginatus, is a species of scavenger scarab beetle found in India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, China, Taiwan, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, Ryukyu Archipelago, and Australia.
 | This Ptiliidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |