Prionoceridae Temporal range: | |
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Idgia belli from India | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Coleoptera |
Suborder: | Polyphaga |
Infraorder: | Cucujiformia |
Superfamily: | Cleroidea |
Family: | Prionoceridae Lacordaire, 1857 |
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.
Beetles in the family are elongate with soft elytra. The elytra are often covered with rows of hairs. The margin of the eyes are not round but notched anteriorly. The head faces forward (prognathous) and the clypeal region is produced into a short flat snout. Each of the legs have five tarsi (5-5-4 in the Oedemeridae) with simple claws and a single spur on the pro-tibia. Male Idgia and Prionocerus have a comb on the inner edge of the distal tarsal segment of the foreleg. [1] The genera Nacerdes and Xanthochroa in the family Oedemeridae and some Cantharidae bear resemblance to some of the Prionoceridae. [2]
Members of the family were formerly included as a subfamily within the closely related Melyridae (the genus Lobonyx in Dasytinae). The fossil record of Prionoceridae has been recorded from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds of China ( Idgiaites jurassicus ), the Cenomanian Burmese amber ( Cretaidgia burmensis ) [3] and Ypresian Hat creek Amber from Canada ( Prionocerites tattriei ). [4] [5] [6]
There are around 150 species in three genera; Idgia Laporte, 1836 (Palaeotropical), Lobonyx Jacquelin du Val, 1859 [7] (mostly Palaearctic), and Prionocerus Perty, 1831. [8] [9]
The following is a partial list of the species that have been described (the generic placement and validity are unverified and likely to be out of date):
Dermestidae are a family of Coleoptera that are commonly referred to as skin beetles. Other common names include larder beetle, hide or leather beetles, carpet beetles, and khapra beetles. There are over 1,800 species described.
Cleroidea is a small superfamily of beetles containing over 10,000 species. Most of the members of the group are somewhat slender, often with fairly soft, flexible elytra, and typically hairy or scaly.
The family Oedemeridae is a cosmopolitan group of beetles commonly known as false blister beetles, though some recent authors have coined the name pollen-feeding beetles. There are some 100 genera and 1,500 species in the family, mostly associated with rotting wood as larvae, though adults are quite common on flowers. The family was erected by Pierre André Latreille in 1810.
Melyridae are a family of beetles of the superfamily Cleroidea.
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.
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.
Brochocoleus is an extinct genus of beetles in the family Ommatidae, known from the Early Jurassic to the Early Late Cretaceous. 9 species are currently recognised, with many species being reassigned to other genera by Kirejtshuk's major systematic revision in 2020.
Dascillidae is a family of beetles within the clade Elateriformia. There are about 100 extant species in 11 genera, which are found worldwide. Dascillidae together with Rhipiceridae form the super family Dascilloidea.
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.
2017 in paleoentomology is a list of new fossil insect taxa that were described during the year 2017, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoentomology that were scheduled to occur during the year.
Novius iceryae is a species of ladybird beetle native to Afrotropical realm, and was described from South Africa. It is also found in Senegal. In 1880, Novius iceryae was used to successfully control cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi in South Africa. It was later introduced in New Zealand for the management of cottony cushion scale. This and related species were formerly classified in the genus Rodolia.
Burmocoelus is an extinct genus of Archostematan beetle belonging to the family Ommatidae. It is known from two species, Burmocoleus zhiyuani, which was initially assigned to the genus Brochocoleus this was placed into the new genus Burmocoleus by Kirejtshuk, 2020, who also described a new species, Burmocoleus prisnyi. Both species are known from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber from Myanmar. Similar to Stegocoleus, Brochocoleus and Jarzembowskiops it has flat, wide elytral edges, but can be distinguished from these genera in several characters, and is more similar to other ommatids in the characters of the prothorax.
Burmese amber is fossil resin dating to the early Late Cretaceous Cenomanian age recovered from deposits in the Hukawng Valley of northern Myanmar. It is known for being one of the most diverse Cretaceous age amber paleobiotas, containing rich arthropod fossils, along with uncommon vertebrate fossils and even rare marine inclusions. A mostly complete list of all taxa described up until 2018 can be found in Ross 2018; its supplement Ross 2019b covers most of 2019.
Dicranolaius bellulus is a species of soft-winged flower beetle in the family Melyridae, found in Australia, in all mainland states and territories. It was first (partially) described in 1830 by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville as Malachius bellulus with the publication ot illustrations. However, Guérin-Méneville completed the description with the publication of a text in 1838. Consequently, the Australian Faunal Directory considers the first valid publication to be that of Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1835. Taxonomic reasons for the various synonyms are given in a 2017 paper by Liu, Slipinski and Pang.
Lobonyx is a genus of soft-winged flower beetles in the family Prionoceridae. There are at least 11 described species in Lobonyx.
Lobonyx aeneus is a species of soft-winged flower beetles in the family Prionoceridae, found in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa.
Novius octoguttata is a species of lady beetle native to India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar and China.
Synona obscura, is a species of lady beetle found in India and Sri Lanka.
Acalyptomerus asiaticus, is a species of fringe-winged beetle found in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand. It is also introduced to Jamaica.