The Disteniidae are a small

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s in the superfamily Chrysomeloidea, traditionally treated as a group within the

Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns (whose larvae are often referred to as roundheaded borers), are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by anten ...

(most resembling certain Lepturinae such as the genus '' Stenocorus'', but having long fine antennae and sometimes metallic colours).

Morphology

Adult

The adults have a lepturoid aspect, having like those (except for a small number of cases) a divided stridulatory area. Nevertheless, the head is extremely short, the

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

s are strongly bowed and the anterior coxae are globular. The antennae are long, nearly filiform in most of the genera, and bearing very long

setae In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae ...

in the Malagasy genus '' Nethinius''.

Larva

The major differences are in the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

l morphology, because they have the prosternal skin attached to the base of the submentum, rather than with the gula such as all other

. For nearly all other aspects, they are very similar to the larvae of Lepturinae.

Distribution

This family, original from

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

, includes more than 300 species, widespread in all regions of the Southern Hemisphere, while much less common in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

. In particular, only a few species occur in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and none are present in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In contrast,

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

is extremely rich in species, especially of the

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

genus '' Nethinius''.

Biology

The adults have mostly nocturnal behaviour; some species (''Nethinius'') may be collected beating plants where they live. The fact that several specimens have been collected with mutilated legs and antennae suggests the existence of an aggressive character and of infra-specific fights for females. The larvae are xylophagous and attack wood or roots of broad-leaf trees.

Systematics

The Disteniidae were inserted in "Cerambycides" by Jean Théodore Lacordaire, when the group included all cerambycids known at that time except for

Lamiinae Lamiinae, commonly called flat-faced longhorns, are a subfamily of the longhorn beetle family (Cerambycidae). The subfamily includes over 750 genera, rivaled in diversity within the family only by the subfamily Cerambycinae Cerambycinae is a s ...

and

Prioninae The Prioninae are a subfamily of Cerambycidae (long-horned beetles). They are typically large (25–70 mm) and usually brown or black. The males of a few genera sport large Mandible (arthropod), mandibles that are used in fights with other ...

. LeConte &

Horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

(1883) included them in the Lepturinae, even noticing their peculiar primitivism. Gahan considered them as a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

suggesting that this group should deserve the elevation to

rank. This statement was formalised by Linsley in 1961, accepted by many subsequent authors and only seldom contested. The

is composed of 4

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

: * Cyrtonopini White, 1853 * Disteniini Thomson, 1860 * Dynamostini Lacordaire, 1869 * Heteropalpini Villiers, 1980

Notes

References

External links

Gallery of worldwide DisteniidaeGallery of American Disteniidae
{{Authority control Chrysomeloidea Polyphaga families Taxa named by James Thomson