Zopheridae is a family of beetles belonging to Tenebrionoidea. It has grown considerably in recent years as the members of two other families have been included within its circumscription; these former families are the Monommatidae and the Colydiidae, which are now both included in the Zopheridae as subfamilies or (in the former case) even as tribe of subfamily Zopherinae. Some authors accept up to six subfamilies here, while others merge all except the Colydiinae into the Zopherinae.

Zopheridae
Temporal range: Cenomanian–Recent
Ironclad beetle, Zopherus nodulosus (Zopherinae)
Aprostoma planifrons (Colydiinae)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Superfamily: Tenebrionoidea
Family: Zopheridae
Solier, 1834
Subfamilies

Colydiinae - cylindrical bark beetles
Latometinae
Monommatinae
Pycnomerinae
Usechinae
Zopherinae - ironclad beetles

Aulonium ruficorne (Colydiinae)

The family has approximately 190 genera and 1700 species, which are found worldwide. A large number of members of the family feed on rotting wood or fungus associated with rotting wood, though some members of Colydiinae are predatory, or feed on living plant tissue such as roots, stems, flower stalks and fruit.[1]

The oldest fossils of the family are Paleoendeitoma (subfamily Colydiinae, tribe Synchitini) and Cretomysteria from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Burmese amber from Myanmar.[2]

See also edit

Genera edit

Data sources: i = ITIS,[3] c = Catalogue of Life,[4] g = GBIF,[5] b = Bugguide.net[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Ślipinśki, Adam and Lawrence, John F.. "11.9. Zopheridae Solier, 1834". 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. 548-559
  2. ^ Deng, Congshuang; Ślipiński, Adam; Ren, Dong; Pang, Hong (October 2017). "The first Mesozoic colydiid beetles (Coleoptera: Zopheridae: Colydiinae) from the Upper Cretaceous amber of Myanmar". Cretaceous Research. 78: 71–77. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2017.04.010.
  3. ^ "Zopheridae Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  4. ^ "Browse Zopheridae". Catalogue of Life. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  5. ^ "Zopheridae". GBIF. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  6. ^ "Zopheridae Family Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2018-04-23.