Jacobsoniidae are a

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 ...

of tiny

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 belonging to Staphylinoidea. The

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

and adults live under bark, in plant litter, fungi, bat guano and rotten wood. There are around 28 described species in three genera:

Description

Members of this family have a small body size (0.7-2.1mm in length). Their bodies are narrow, and are four times as long as they are wide. They are often a yellowish-brown in color.

Ecology

Members of the group have primarily been found in leaf litter or in rotting wood, but some has have also been found in fungal fruting bodies or bat guano. The biology of members of this group is essentially unknown.

Taxonomy

Their taxonomic position has long been controversial, originally they were placed in Dermestoidea, before being considered

Polyphaga Polyphaga is the largest and most diverse suborder of beetles. It comprises 144 families in 16 superfamilies, and displays an enormous variety of specialization and adaptation, with over 350,000 described species, or approximately 90% of the b ...

incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

.'' They were later placed in the Staphylinoidea, which is supported by characters of the wing venation as well as the morphology of the larval galea of the maxillae.

Distribution

Members of this family have been found in Alabama, Florida, South America, Central America,

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia.

Taxonomy

* Genus '' Sarothrias'' Grouvelle, 1918 (India, Southeast Asia, China, Oceania) ** '' Sarothrias amabilis'' Ślipiński & Löbl, 1995 ** '' Sarothrias audax'' Ślipiński & Löbl, 1995 ** '' Sarothrias bournei'' Ślipiński, 1986 ** †'' Sarothrias cretaceus'' Cai ''et al''., 2017 (

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

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. Th ...

) ** '' Sarothrias crowsoni'' Löbl & Burckhardt, 1988 ** '' Sarothrias dimerus'' (Heller, 1926) ** '' Sarothrias eximius'' Grouvelle, 1918 ** '' Sarothrias fijianus'' Löbl & Burckhardt, 1988 ** '' Sarothrias hygrophilus'' Pal, 1998 ** '' Sarothrias indicus'' Dajoz, 1978 ** '' Sarothrias lawrencei'' Löbl & Burckhardt, 1988 ** '' Sarothrias morokanus'' Poggi, 1991 ** '' Sarothrias pacificus'' Ślipiński & Löbl, 1995 ** '' Sarothrias papuanus'' Ślipiński, 1986 ** '' Sarothrias sinicus'' Bi & Chen, 2015 ** '' Sarothrias songi'' Yin & Bi, 2018 * Genus '' Saphophagus'' Sharp, 1886 (New Zealand) ** '' Saphophagus minutus'' Sharp, 1886 * Genus '' Derolathrus'' Sharp, 1908 (Oceania,

Macaronesia Macaronesia (; ) is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of list of islands in the Atlantic Oc ...

, North America, Mauritius, Indian subcontinent) ** †'' Derolathrus abyssus'' Yamamoto & Parker, 2017 (

) ** '' Derolathrus anophthalmus'' (Franz, 1969) ** '' Derolathrus atomus'' Sharp, 1908 ** '' Derolathrus cavernicolus'' Peck, 2010 ** †'' Derolathrus capdoliensis'' Tihelka ''et al''., 2022 (

, Charentese amber) ** '' Derolathrus ceylonicus'' (Sen Gupta, 1979) ** '' Derolathrus foveiceps'' (Théry, 2023) ** †'' Derolathrus groehni'' Cai ''et al''., 2016 (

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

) ** '' Derolathrus insularis'' (Dajoz, 1973) ** '' Derolathrus parvulus'' (Rücker, 1983) ** '' Derolathrus sharpi'' Grouvelle, 1912 ** '' Derolathrus troglophilus'' (Sen Gupta, 1979)

References

External links

Jacobsoniidae at Fauna Europaea
Staphylinoidea Beetle families Taxa named by Karl Borromaeus Maria Josef Heller {{Staphylinoidea-stub