The Omalisinae (formerly family Omalisidae)
are a small
subfamily of morphologically derived
elaterid beetles. The Omalisinae were long considered an independent family in the deprecated family
Cantharoidea (more closely related to soft-bodied beetles like fireflies, than click beetles), and later a family in the
Elateroidea
The Elateroidea are a large superfamily of beetles. It contains the familiar click beetles, fireflies, and soldier beetles and their relatives. It consists of about 25,000 species.
Description
Elateroidea is a morphologically diverse group, ...
, but molecular phylogenies have demonstrated the morphological similarity of Omalisinae to other soft bodied beetles is a case of parallel evolution (
homoplasy
Homoplasy, in biology and phylogenetics, is the term used to describe a feature that has been gained or lost independently in separate lineages over the course of evolution. This is different from homology, which is the term used to characterize ...
) of their soft bodies, rather than an
apomorphy. Members of this beetle subfamily have been reported to have
bioluminescent organs on the larvae, although no recent publications have confirmed this. Some recent evidence indicated they were the
sister group to a clade comprising the families
Rhagophthalmidae
The Rhagophthalmidae are a family of beetles within the superfamily Elateroidea. Members of this beetle family have bioluminescent organs on the larvae, and sometimes adults, and are closely related to the Phengodidae (glowworm beetles), though ...
and
Phengodidae
The beetle family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose larvae are known as glowworms. The females and larvae have bioluminescent organs. They occur throughout the New World from extreme southern Canada to Chile. The recently re ...
(glowworm beetles),
[L. Bocak, M. Motyka, M. Bocek, M. Bocakova (2018) Incomplete sclerotization and phylogeny: The phylogenetic classification of ''Plastocerus'' (Coleoptera: Elateroidea). ] however a more comprehensive phylogenetic analysis based on genome sequences strongly supported the Omalisinae as being contained within the Elateridae.
Species
* Genus ''
Omalisus''
Geoffroy, 1762
** ''
Omalisus flavangulus''
(Spåth, 1898)
** ''
Omalisus fontisbellaquaei''
Geoffroy in Fourcroy, 1785
** ''
Omalisus graecus''
(Pic, 1901)
** ''
Omalisus minutus''
(Pic, 1938)
** ''
Omalisus nicaeensis''
(Lesne, 1921)
** ''
Omalisus nigricornis''
(Reitter, 1881)
** ''
Omalisus sanguinipennis''
(Laporte de Castelnau, 1840)
** ''
Omalisus taurinensis''
(Baudi, 1871)
** ''
Omalisus unicolor''
(Costa, 1857)
** ''
Omalisus victoris''
(Mulsant, 1852)
* Genus ''
Thilmanus''
Baudi, 1872
** ''
Thilmanus longipennis''
Pic, 1912
** ''
Thilmanus obscurus''
Baudi, 1872
References
;Citations
;Bibliograph
Omalisidae Species Listat Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog. Texas A&M University. Retrieved on 15 Jul 2011.
{{Elateroidea-stub
Elateridae
Polyphaga subfamilies