Eucnemidae, or false click beetles, are a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of
elateroid beetle
Beetles are 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 describ ...
s including about 1700 species distributed worldwide.
Description
Closely related to the family
Elateridae, specimens of Eucnemidae can reach a length of . Bodies are slightly flattened and convex. The upper surfaces of the body usually has hairs, setae or scales.
Ecology
The larvae are typically legless, and generally develop feeding on the fluids of rotting wood, likely vomiting digestive enzymes into the wood to break apart the fungal hyphae, moving using their shovel shaped heads to force apart the wood. Adults, which are typically found on broken surfaces of trunks and stumps, have a short lifespan and it is unclear whether they feed, though they are capable fliers, and like some other elateroids are capable of clicking.
Taxonomy
Subfamilies
*
Anischiinae Fleutiaux, 1936
*
Eucneminae Eschscholtz, 1829
*
Macraulacinae Fleutiaux, 1922
*
Melasinae Leach, 1817
*
Palaeoxeninae Muona, 1993
*
Perothopinae Lacordaire, 1857 – perothopid beetles
*
Phlegoninae Muona, 1993
*
Phyllocerinae Reitter, 1905
*
Pseudomeninae Muona, 1993
Fossil genera
* †''
Beattieellus''
Oberprieler et al. 2016 –
Talbragar Fossil Bed, Australia, Late Jurassic (
Tithonian
In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 152.1 ± 4 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by ...
)
* †''
Cenomana''
Otto, 2019 –
Burmese amber
Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...
, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (
Cenomanian
The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in ...
)
* †''
Lissantauga''
Poinar 2013 –
Dominican amber,
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
* †''
Muonabuntor''
Li, Tihelka & Cai, 2020 – Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
References
BiolibDiscover Life* J. F. Lawrence, A. M. Hastings, M. J. Dallwitz, T. A. Paine and E. J. Zurche
"Synopsis of the Described Coleoptera of the World"* Muona, J. 1993. Review of the phylogeny, classification and biology of the family Eucnemidae (Coleoptera). Entomologica Scandinavica, Supplement No. 44, 133 pp.
Elateroidea
Beetle families
Beetles described in 1829
Taxa named by Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz
{{Elateroidea-stub