Cupedidae

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Cupedidae
Tenomerga mucida, ♀

Tenomerga mucida , ♀

Systematics
Trunk : Arthropod (arthropoda)
Superclass : Six-footed (Hexapoda)
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Beetle (Coleoptera)
Subordination : Archostemata
Family : Cupedidae
Scientific name
Cupedidae
La Porte , 1836

The Cupedidae are a species-poor family of beetles within the most primitive suborder of the beetles, the Archostemata . The family occurs worldwide with 31 species in nine genera.

features

Beetle

The beetles have elongated, slender and parallel-sided bodies 5 to 22 millimeters long and 1.5 to 6.5 millimeters wide. Most of the time the body is clearly flattened, only in the genera Priacma and Paracupes the back is convex. The animals are colored light gray to brown to black. The body is covered with scales, which usually form inconspicuous patterns on the head, thorax and the wings . The entire surface of the body is covered with very fine tubercles measuring around 20 to 50 µm . The scales either start on top of them or right next to them.

The head of the beetle is slightly wider than it is long and with the mouthparts pointing forward. Only in the genus Prolixocupes is it as wide as it is long. The head has no indentations for the antennae , which lie between and in front of the compound eyes . Their distance from one another corresponds approximately to the diameter of the basal phalanx ( scapus ) of the antennae or is slightly less than this. The antennae are therefore very close together. Only in the genus Priacma is the distance about twice as large as the diameter of the scapus. The thread-like antennae have eleven links and are half to almost as long as the body. The limbs are flattened cylindrical to dorsoventral , the scapus is 1.4 to 4 times longer than the pedicel . The third segment is less than 1.4 times as long as the fourth segment, the eleventh is up to 1.5 times longer than the tenth.

The medium-sized to large compound eyes lie on the side of the head and protrude. Behind the eyes, the head tapers sharply, forming a neck. The top of the head bears one or two pairs of tubercles that are visible to the naked eye. A cone-shaped pair is always located above the antenna deflections, a second conical or oblong-truncated pair can be in front of and behind the eyes. In some species there is an indistinct and smaller third pair directly behind the elongated pair of tubercles on the eyes. In the genera Rhipsideigma , Tenomerga and Cupes , elongated swellings can be seen on the back of the head between the tubercles on both sides of the midline. The small, rectangular upper lip ( labrum ) is clearly separated from the frontal plate ( clypeus ). These and forehead ( frons ) have grown. The mandibles have horizontal edges with three to five teeth. The last link of the maxillary and labial palps is somewhat wedge-shaped, only in the genus Priacma it is cylindrical. The area with the sensory hair lies in a flat indentation. The prementum , a sclerite on the labium, is enlarged and plate-shaped.

The pronotum (front chest) is widest in its front half and has pointed front corners. In the genera Paracupes and Priacma no indentations for Tarsen designed for all other species are those on the ventral side of the prothorax . The indentations for the coxes of the front legs are separate and open to the rear. The penultimate tarsal link is widened.

The cover wings carry 9 to 10 rows of sclerotized longitudinal veins typical of the suborder , which are connected to the same transverse veins in such a way that transparent spaces are formed between them. The second, membranous pair of wings ( alae ) is well developed. Usually only one cross vein, CuA-PCu, is formed on them. The abdomen has five ventrites (visible abdominal sclerites ). The seventh sternite is rather slender and elongated. The eighth is everted and membranous except for its tip. The ninth sternite is encompassed by the eighth and envelops the Aedeagus . The latter is simple, built with three lobes and has two pairs of curved basal structures. The penis has two pairs of round lobes and a slender tip. It is very complex in the genus Priacma .

Larvae

The larvae are only known from Tenomerga cinerea , Tenomerga mucida , Distocupes varians , Priacma serrata and Rhipsideigma raffrayi . They reach a body length of 15 to 38 millimeters. All look very similar and have an elongated, parallel-edged, almost cylindrical body that is only slightly sclerotized. They are whitish in color, only the head, the mouthparts and the tip of the abdomen are light to dark brown. The head is stretched forward, somewhat flattened and strongly indented at the back. Stigmas are usually not formed. The feelers are four-segmented, rarely five- or six-segmented. In the first larval stage of Priacma serrata , however, the larvae have only three antennae. The upper lip (labrum) is exposed. The frontoclypeal suture is formed, but sometimes indistinctly visible. The mandibles have three or four teeth and a large mola . The maxillae carry three-segment palps on the large pilifer , a structure that derives from the labrum. The labium has a wedge-shaped, sclerotized ligula and two-segment palps.

The prothorax of the larvae is wider and longer than the meso- or metathorax . The prosternum has large areas with uneven surfaces. The six-limbed legs are short and have a claw. The tergum of the ninth abdominal segment bears a sclerotized process in the center behind.

Occurrence

Four species are distributed in North America, three in South America and six in southern and eastern Africa, four of which only occur in Madagascar. In continental Asia, in Japan and on the oceanic islands four species each, in New Caledonia two and in Australia six species have been recorded. In Europe, the representatives of the family died out during the last ice ages. The youngest known fossils from Europe are known from the fossil deposit near Willershausen in Germany and are around two million years old. These are representatives of the genus Tenomerga .

Way of life

The larvae of Tenomerga cinerea were detected on wood that was infected with the fungus Daedalea quercina . The larvae of Tenomerga mucida are found on wood that is fungus with Stromatoscypha and Distocupes varians develop in fungus wood of the Norway spruce ( Picea abies ). The pupation of all these species also takes place in the wood. The larval way of life of all other species is unknown. The adults feed on pollen. Males of Priacma serrata can be easily baited with a solution containing sodium hypochlorite from early May to mid-July .

Taxonomy and systematics

Within the Cupedidae, Priacma serrata is in a sister relationship to all other species. The following types are known so far:

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Rolf G. Beutel, Richard AB Leschen: Handbuch der Zoologie - Coleoptera, Beetles, Volume 1: Morphology and Systematics (Archostemata, Adephaga, Myxophaga, Polyphaga partim) . 1st edition. de Gruyter , 2005, ISBN 3-11-017130-9 (English).

literature

  • Rolf G. Beutel, Richard AB Leschen: Handbuch der Zoologie - Coleoptera, Beetles, Volume 1: Morphology and Systematics (Archostemata, Adephaga, Myxophaga, Polyphaga partim) . 1st edition. de Gruyter , 2005, ISBN 3-11-017130-9 (English).

Web links

Commons : Cupedidae  - collection of images, videos and audio files