Myxophaga

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Myxophaga
Temporal range: Carnian–Recent
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Sphaerius.acaroides.Reitter.tafel64.jpg
Sphaerius acaroides
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Myxophaga
Crowson, 1955
Families

Hydroscaphidae
Lepiceridae
Sphaeriusidae
Torridincolidae
†Triamyxidae

Myxophaga is the second-smallest suborder of the Coleoptera after Archostemata, consisting of roughly 65 species of small to minute beetles in four families. The members of this suborder are aquatic and semiaquatic, and feed on algae.

Description[]

Myxophaga have several diagnostic features: the antennae are more or less distinctly clubbed with usually fewer than nine segments, mesocoxal cavities are open laterally and bordered by a mesepimeron and metanepisternum, the hind wings are rolled apically in the resting positions. Internally, they are characterised by the presence of six malpighian tubules and the testes are tube-like and coiled.[1]

Beetles of this suborder are adapted to feed on algae. Their mouthparts are characteristic in lacking galeae and having a mobile tooth on their left mandible.[2]

Taxonomy[]

There are four extant families in the suborder Myxophaga divided between two superfamilies,[3] containing about 65 described species,[4] and at least one extinct family.[a]

  • Family Lepiceridae Hinton, 1936
    • Lepicerus Hinton, 1936
    • † Jałoszyński et al. 2020
  • Family Hydroscaphidae LeConte, 1874
    • Hydroscapha LeConte, 1874
    • Scaphydra Reichardt, 1973
    • Yara Reichardt & Hinton, 1976
    • Short, Joly, García & Maddison, 2015
  • Family Sphaeriusidae Erichson, 1845
  • Family Torridincolidae , 1964
    • Claudiella Reichardt & Vanin, 1976
    • Delevea Reichardt, 1976
    • Iapir Py-Daniel, da Fonseca & Barbosa, 1993
    • Incoltorrida Steffan, 1973
    • Satonius Endrödy-Younga, 1997
    • Torridincola Steffan, 1964
    • Ytu Reichardt, 1973
  • Family †Triamyxidae Qvarnström et al. 2021
  • Unplaced in family
    • † Chatzimanolis et al. 2012

Distribution[]

Hydroscapha natans

Living members of Lepiceridae are confined to northern South America and Central America. Members of Sphaeriusidae occur on all continents except Antarctica, while Hydroscaphidae occurs on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Torridincolidae occurs in Africa, Asia, and South America.[5]

Fossil record[]

Little about the fossil record of Myxophaga is known. Fossils from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) aged Burmese amber from Myanmar, have been assigned to the extant genus Lepicerus and extinct genus within Lepiceridae,[6][7][8] as well as , which belongs to Sphaerusidae.[9] No impression fossils of myxophagan beetle were described until 2012, probably because of their small body size and specialized habitat.[10] A fossil specimen, assigned to the living genus Hydroscapha in Hydroscaphidae, was described in 2012 from the Yixian Formation in the Jehol Biota, dating from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian).[10] In 2019, from the Late Triassic (Norian) Cow Branch Formation of North Carolina, which had previously been interpreted as the oldest known rove beetle was reinterpreted as an early diverging relative of the family Hydroscaphidae, making it the then oldest known Myxophagan.[11] In 2021, numerous specimens of a new myxophagan were described from a coprolite found in Late Triassic (Carnian) aged sediments in Poland. The new taxon Triamyxa, was placed in its own monotypic family Triamyxidae, and was resolved as either the most basal myxophagan or sister to Hydroscaphidae.[12]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ † Denotes that the group is extinct

References[]

  1. ^ Beutel, R.; Leschen, R. (2005). "Morphology and Systematics (Archostemata, Adephaga, Myxophaga, Polyphaga partim)". Band 4 Part 38: Arthropoda, Hälfte: Insecta, Coleoptera, Beetles. Handbuch der Zoologie/Handbook of Zoology. 1. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-017130-9.
  2. ^ Beutel & Leschen 2005, p. 43
  3. ^ "Myxophaga". Tree of Life Web Project. 2007. Retrieved 2017-05-26.
  4. ^ Mesaros, Gabor (2013). "Sphaeriusidae (Coleoptera, Myxophaga): A new beetle family to the fauna of Serbia". Bulletin of the Natural History Museum (6): 71–74. doi:10.5937/bnhmb1306071m.
  5. ^ Sampaio, Brunno H.L.; Short, Andrew E.Z. (2018), "Families Hydroscaphidae and Torridincolidae", Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates, Elsevier, pp. 519–525, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-804223-6.00022-6, ISBN 978-0-12-804223-6, retrieved 2021-07-26
  6. ^ Kirejtshuk, A. G.; Poinar, G. (2006). "Haplochelidae, a new family of cretaceous beetles (Coleoptera: Myxophaga) from Burmese amber". Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 108: 155–164.
  7. ^ Ge, S. Q.; Friedrich, F.; Beutel, R. G. (2010). "On the systematic position and taxonomic rank of the extinct myxophagan dagger Haplochelus (Coleoptera)". Insect Systematics and Evolution. 41 (4): 329–338. doi:10.1163/187631210X537385.
  8. ^ Jałoszyński, Paweł; Luo, Xiao-Zhu; Hammel, Jörg U.; Yamamoto, Shûhei & Beutel, Rolf G. (2020). "The mid-Cretaceous †Lepiceratus gen. nov. and the evolution of the relict beetle family Lepiceridae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Myxophaga)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (13). doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1747561
  9. ^ Kirejtshuk, A. G. (2009). "A new genus and species of Sphaeriusidae (Coleoptera, Myxophaga) from Lower Cretaceous Burmese amber" (PDF). Denisia. 26: 99–102.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Cai, C.; Short, A. E. Z.; Huang, D. (2012). "The First Skiff Beetle (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Hydroscaphidae) from Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota". Journal of Paleontology. 86 (1): 116–9. doi:10.1666/11-050.1. S2CID 140170420.
  11. ^ Fikáček, Martin; Beutel, Rolf G.; Cai, Chenyang; Lawrence, John F.; Newton, Alfred F.; Solodovnikov, Alexey; Ślipiński, Adam; Thayer, Margaret K.; Yamamoto, Shûhei (January 2020). "Reliable placement of beetle fossils via phylogenetic analyses – Triassic Leehermania as a case study (Staphylinidae or Myxophaga?)". Systematic Entomology. 45 (1): 175–187. doi:10.1111/syen.12386. ISSN 0307-6970.
  12. ^ Qvarnström, Martin; Fikáček, Martin; Vikberg Wernström, Joel; Huld, Sigrid; Beutel, Rolf G.; Arriaga-Varela, Emmanuel; Ahlberg, Per E.; Niedźwiedzki, Grzegorz (June 2021). "Exceptionally preserved beetles in a Triassic coprolite of putative dinosauriform origin". Current Biology: S0960982221006746. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.015.

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