Rhinorhipus

Rhinorhipus
Specimen of Rhinorhipus with closeup of the head (right)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Elateriformia
Superfamily:	Rhinorhipoidea
Family:	Rhinorhipidae
Genus:	Rhinorhipus Lawrence, 1988
Species:	R. tamborinensis
Binomial name
Rhinorhipus tamborinensis Lawrence, 1988

Rhinorhipus is a genus of beetles that contains a single species, Rhinorhipus tamborinensis from southern Queensland, Australia. ^[1] It is the sole member of the family Rhinorhipidae and superfamily Rhinorhipoidea. It is an isolated lineage not closely related to any other living beetle, estimated to have split from other beetles at least 200 million years ago, with studies either considering them the sister group to Elateriformia, ^[2] or as a member of Polyphaga, sister to all other lineages in that group. ^[3]

They exhibit feigning death (thanatosis) when disturbed. Their ecology is poorly known; based on their morphology, it is likely that they are fossorial. ^[4]

References

1. Lawrence, JF (1988). "Rhinorhipidae, a new beetle family from Australia, with comments on the phylogeny of the elateriformia". Invertebrate Systematics. 2: 1. doi:10.1071/IT9880001.
2. Kusy, Dominik; Motyka, Michal; Andujar, Carmelo; Bocek, Matej; Masek, Michal; Sklenarova, Katerina; Kokas, Filip; Bocakova, Milada; Vogler, Alfried P.; Bocak, Ladislav (2018-05-02). "Genome sequencing of Rhinorhipus Lawrence exposes an early branch of the Coleoptera". Frontiers in Zoology. 15 (1): 21. doi: 10.1186/s12983-018-0262-0 . ISSN   1742-9994. PMC   5930637 . PMID   29743928.
3. Cai, Chenyang; Tihelka, Erik; Giacomelli, Mattia; Lawrence, John F.; Ślipiński, Adam; Kundrata, Robin; Yamamoto, Shûhei; Thayer, Margaret K.; Newton, Alfred F.; Leschen, Richard A. B.; Gimmel, Matthew L.; Lü, Liang; Engel, Michael S.; Bouchard, Patrice; Huang, Diying (March 2022). "Integrated phylogenomics and fossil data illuminate the evolution of beetles". Royal Society Open Science. 9 (3) 211771. doi:10.1098/rsos.211771. ISSN   2054-5703. PMC   8941382 . PMID   35345430.
4. Lawrence, John F.. "4.1. Rhinorhipidae Lawrence, 1988". Volume 2 Morphology and Systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim), edited by Willy Kükenthal, Richard A.B. Leschen, Rolf G. Beutel and John F. Lawrence, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 2011, pp. 38-42.