Unique-headed bugs Temporal range: | |
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Phthirocoris magnus female | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hemiptera |
Suborder: | Heteroptera |
Superfamily: | Enicocephaloidea |
Family: | Enicocephalidae Stål, 1860 |
Enicocephalidae, also called unique-headed bugs and gnat bugs, are a family of around 300 species of the suborder Heteroptera. They are typically 4 mm (0.16 in) long, and found throughout the world. They have an elongated head, constricted in places, hence their head is 'unique'.
They are classified into about 47 genera placed in five subfamilies. The family members can be separated from those of the Aenictopecheidae on the basis of the pronotal division into three lobes (except in the genus Alienates ). They also show polymorphism with winged males and wingless or short-winged females. [1]
Genera in the family include:
Data sources: i = ITIS, [2] c = Catalogue of Life, [3] g = GBIF, [4] b = Bugguide.net [5]
The insect family Nabidae contains the damsel bugs. There are over 500 species in 20 genera. They are soft-bodied, elongate, winged terrestrial predators. Many damsel bugs catch and hold prey with their forelegs, similar to mantids. They are considered helpful species in agriculture because of their predation on many types of crop pests.
Psychodidae, also called drain flies, sink flies, filter flies, sewer flies, or sewer gnats, is a family of true flies. Some genera have short, hairy bodies and wings, giving them a "furry" moth-like appearance, hence one of their common names, moth flies. Members of the sub-family Phlebotominae, which are hematophagous, may be called sand flies in some countries, although this term is also used for other unrelated flies.
Ripiphoridae is a cosmopolitan family of some 450 described species of beetles sometimes called "wedge-shaped beetles". Ripiphoridae are unusual among beetle families in that many species are hypermetamorphic parasitoids, an attribute that they share with the Meloidae. Members of the family differ in their choice of hosts, but most attack various species of bees or wasps, while some others attack cockroaches or beetles. Many species of Ripiphoridae have abbreviated elytra, and flabellate or pectinate antennae.
Lepismatidae is a family of primitive wingless insects with about 190 described species. This family contains the two most familiar members of the order Zygentoma: the silverfish and the firebrat. It is one of five families in the order Zygentoma.
The Emesinae, or thread-legged bugs, are a subfamily of the Reduviidae. They are conspicuously different from the other reduviids by their very slender body form. They are stalking, predatory insects that can be collected on palm fronds, cliffs, spider webbing, or near lights at night. They walk on their mid and hind legs; the front pair is raptorial. Some groups specialize on spiders. Very little is known about emesines except that many species are found in the tropics. Pedro Wygodzinsky wrote the most recent revision of this group.
Compsocidae is a family of Psocodea belonging to the suborder Troctomorpha. The family comprises two extant species in two genera, both found in Mesoamerica. Compsocus elegans is found in Mexico and Central America, while Electrentomopsis variegata is found in Mexico. The antennae of each species have 13 or 14 segments. Two extinct genera, Burmacompsocus and Paraelectrentomopsis are known from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber of Myanmar and Albian aged Spanish amber.
Aenictopecheidae is a rare family of insects occurring worldwide but containing only a few species, including a single American species, Boreostolus americanus. This species lives under large, flat stones and sandy substrates along mountain streams in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. It is 5 mm long and occurs in both the macropterous and brachypterous condition. It is assumed to be predaceous.
Endomychidae, or handsome fungus beetles, is a family of beetles with representatives found in all biogeographic realms. There are around 120 genera and 1300 species. The family was established based on the type genus Endomychus, a genus erected in 1795 by Panzer which was applied to a species that Linnaeus called Chrysomela coccinea. As the common name suggests, Endomychidae feed on fungi. Crowson, in his influential treatment of the beetles, placed the family within the Cucujoidea. They have a tarsal formal of 4-4-4 or 3-3-3 and the wings lack a closed radial cell. The second antennal segment has a sensory appendage that is as long as the third antennal segment. The family has also been grouped with the Coccinellidae in a group called the Trimera for having pseudotrimerous tarsi. A 2015 molecular phylogeny study found that the Cucujoidea were found to be non-monophyletic and the Endomychidae was refined with the removal of the Anamorphinae from within the family and elevated to the status of a full family, Anamorphidae. Mycetaeinae and Eupsilobiinae were also found not to belong within the clades of the core Endomychidae, and likewise reclassified into the families Mycetaeidae and Eupsilobiidae.
Stenolemus is a genus of thread-legged bug (Emesinae). Species of this genus are noted for preying on spiders.
Barce is a genus of thread-legged bugs in the family Reduviidae. There are about six described species in Barce.
Kateretidae also known as short-winged flower beetles are a family of beetles in the superfamily Cucujoidea. There are 10 extant and 4 extinct genera, and at least 40 described species. They are found worldwide except in New Zealand. Adults are anthophagous, feeding on flowers, while the larvae are spermatophagous inside the flower corolla.
Sphindidae is a family of beetles, in the suborder Polyphaga. They are called slime mold beetles due to their exclusive feeding on slime molds during adult and larval stages, other aspects of their life history are obscure. Palaeontological discoveries since 2015 have added to the geologic history of Sphindidae, including the discovery of Libanopsis, placed in the extinct subfamily Libanopsinae.
Melandryidae is a family of beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea. Members of the family are found worldwide, with around 420 species in 60 genera. Larvae and adults are generally associated with rotting wood and wood-decomposing fungi.
The Bethylidae are a family of aculeate wasps in the superfamily Chrysidoidea. As a family, their biology ranges between parasitoid wasps and hunting wasps.
The Micropeplinae are a subfamily of the Staphylinidae, rove beetles. Their antennae have 9 segments with single-segmented clubs. The tarsal formula is 4-4-4. They are found in leaf litter, near lake shores and marshy areas, in mammal and bird nests, probably as saprophages or mold feeders. In North America, two genera are known Kalissus LeConte 1874 and Micropeplus Latreille, with 14 widespread species.
Schizopteridae is the largest family in the infraorder Dipsocoromorpha and comprises 56 genera and approximately 255 species. Schizopterids are some of the smallest (0.5–2.0 mm) true bugs. Members of this family can be distinguished by their small size, enlarged forecoxae and varying degree of abdominal and genitalic asymmetry in males. Schizopteridae exhibit a wide range of simple and complex wing venation patterns. The group is currently divided into three subfamilies: Schizopterinae, Ogeriinae and Hypselosomatinae.
Psyllipsocidae is a family of cave barklice in the order Psocodea. There are about 7 genera and more than 70 described species in Psyllipsocidae.
Winnertziinae is a subfamily of gall midges and wood midges in the family Cecidomyiidae.
Leptopodidae is a family of spiny-legged bugs in the order Hemiptera. There are about 15 genera and more than 40 described species in Leptopodidae.
Yuripopovinidae is an extinct family of Coreoidea Hemipteran true bugs. Member species are known from the Early Cretaceous and early Late Cretaceous of Asia and northern Gondwana. Among the distinguishing characters are "the hemelytral costal vein apically much thickened and pterostigma-like, the corium with two large cells separated by one longitudinal straight vein." Dehiscensicoridae, described from the Yixian Formation of China has been deemed a junior synonym of Yuripopovinidae per Du et al. (2019). The family was named after Russian paleoentomologist Yuri Alexandrovich Popov.