| Orphninae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Madecorphnus falcatus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Scarabaeidae |
| Subfamily: | Orphninae (Erichson, 1847) |
| Tribes | |
2 | |
Orphninae is a subfamily of beetles in the scarab beetle family, Scarabaeidae. There are two tribes in the family, the New World Aegidiini and the Old World Orphnini. [1] They are mostly tropical beetles. [2]
Beetles are a group of 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 species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms; new species are discovered frequently. The largest of all families, the Curculionidae (weevils) with some 70,000 member species, belongs to this order. 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.
The family Scarabaeidae as currently defined consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide, often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several subfamilies have been elevated to family rank, and some reduced to lower ranks. The subfamilies listed in this article are in accordance with those in Bouchard (2011).
The New World is one of the names used for the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas, and Oceania.
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As of 2013 there are about 195 species in the subfamily. They are classified in 15 genera: 4 in the tribe Aegidiini and 11 in the Orphnini. In addition, the genus Stenosternus is provisionally placed in the Aegidiini. [2]
