Orsodacnidae

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Orsodacnidae
Orsodacne cerasi

Orsodacne cerasi

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Beetle (Coleoptera)
Subordination : Polyphaga
Partial order : Cucujiformia
Superfamily : Chrysomeloidea
Family : Orsodacnidae
Scientific name
Orsodacnidae
Thomson , 1859

The Orsodacnidae are a small family of beetles from the superfamily of leaf beetles (Chrysomeloidea). Traditionally, they were mostly regarded as the Orsodacninae subfamily of the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), but according to recent studies they are considered independent. The family includes only about 30 species. There are two types in Central Europe.

features

The imaginal beetles reach a body length of mostly 3 to 8 millimeters, in a tropical species up to 16 millimeters. Their general body shape is elongated, parallel-sided, dorsoventral (from top to bottom) a little flattened, a good two to two and a half times as long as it is wide. They are yellow, orange, red, brownish to black in color, occasionally with a faint metallic sheen, often monochrome, occasionally with differently colored or blemished elytra . Your integument is smooth, sometimes with short hairs. The head is relatively short, slightly drooping, narrowed towards the back, but not clearly pinched off suddenly. The complex eyes are not indented in outline, they are hairless and protrude clearly hemispherical from the head contour. The forehead region ( frons ) has no pit. The thread-like antennae consist of eleven, mostly weakly widened from the fourth, so that they appear weakly serrated, they are of moderate length. Their deflections (feeler pits) lie between the mandibles and the edge of the eye, they are freely visible from above. The neck plate (pronotum) is usually narrower than the elytra, as wide or wider than the head, the sides rounded ausgerandet little before the middle or rear of greatest width at the side or simply a rounded beaded edge. The elytra are elongated parallel-sided, rounded at the back, on the sides with an underlaid side surface delimited by an edge (epipleurs). They are clearly dotted, without stripes, with mostly irregular, not arranged in rows. They have fully developed hind wings and are, as far as known, capable of flight. The legs are strong, with a large thigh ring (trochanter) so that the hips and thighs are clearly separated from each other. The rails are sometimes a little curved, somewhat widened towards the tip, with two end spurs. They are keeled lengthways with four keels, two of which have hairs (setae). As is typical for all related families, the fourth link on the five-membered tarsi is very small and difficult to see, hidden in a recess in the widened third member, which is hairy on the underside.

distribution

Of the two subfamilies, the Orsodacninae are Holarctic , found in North America, Europe, and Asia. The Aulacoscelidinae live in South, Central and North America, north to the southwest USA.

Biology and way of life

The larvae and adults of Orsodacnidae are herbivorous (phytophag). The adults of Orsodacne feed on pollen , are preferred species of the family of the rose plants . Various species are specified as feeding plants of the larvae, presumably on roots, their specialization is unclear. Aulacoscelidinae also be found on flowers, most data are available but at cycads before (cycads), in particular of the genera Dioon and Zamia . Some species are apparently able to store the toxins found in these plants and use them for their own defense. A larva of an Aulacoscelidinae (not identified for the species) (confirmed by genetic testing, possibly a Janbechynea species) was found in a seed of Dioon merolae from Mexico .

Phylogeny, Taxonomy and Systematics

Traditionally, the group, as Orsodacninae, was a subfamily of the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae). Some taxonomists assumed, similar to the Megalopodidae , a closer relationship to the longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) or a basal position to both families, which would have made the leaf beetles paraphyletic . There was also disagreement about the placement of the genus Zeugophora , a subfamily Zeugophorinae was established for them, today it is placed in the family of Megalopodidae. Today, based on both morphological and genetic studies, the Orsodacnidae are considered a presumed sister group of leaf beetles.

The family now includes only two subfamilies with three genera. Of the 30 or so species, two also occur in Central Europe.

Family Orsodacnidae

Fossil Finds

The genera Protoscelis , Protosceloides , Pseudomegamerus , Cerambyomima and Tarsomegamerus , preserved as compression fossils in limestones of the Jurassic , were assigned to the Aulacoscelidinae by some authors. Other authors consider this classification to be uncertain or to dispute it entirely, since too few diagnostic features have been preserved. The fossil-bearing strata are dominated by Nacktsamern , including cycads, so that a link between the subfamily and cycads seems possible since the Mesozoic era.

Literature and Sources

  • John F. Lawrence & Adam Ślipiński: Orsodacnidae. Chapter 2.6 in Richard AB Leschen, Rolf G. Beutel (editors): Handbook of Zoology / Handbuch der Zoologie. Arthropoda, Insecta, Coleoptera, Beetles. Volume 3: Morphology and Systematics (Phytophaga). Walter de Gruyter Berlin / Boston 2014. ISBN 978-3-11-027370-0 .
  • Shawn M. Clark & ​​Edward G. Riley: Family 123: Orsodacnidae. in Ross H. Arnett, JR, Michael C. Thomas, Paul E. Skelley, J. Howard Frank (editors): American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press, Boca Raton etc. 2002 (Taylor & Francis), ISBN 978-1-4200-4123-1 .
  • Karl-Heinz Mohr: 88th family Chrysomelidae. in Heinz Freude, Karl Wilhelm Harde, Gustav Adolf Lohse (editor): The beetles of Central Europe. Volume 9. Cerambycidae Chrysomelidae. Goecke & Evers Verlag, Krefeld 1966.
  • Michael Schmitt: The phylogenetic system of the Chrysomelidae - history of ideas and present stage of knowledge. in P. Jolivet & ML Cox (editors): Chrysomelidae Biology Volume 1: Classification, Phylogeny and Genetics. SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam 1996. ISBN 978-90-5103-121-8 .
  • Stephanie Haddad & Duane D. McKenna (2016): Phylogeny and evolution of the superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Coleoptera: Cucujiformia). Systematic Entomology 41: 697-716. doi: 10.1111 / syen.12179
  • Jesus Gómez-Zurita, Toby Hunt, Fatos Kopliku, Alfried P. Vogler (2007): Recalibrated Tree of Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae) Indicates Independent Diversification of Angiosperms and Their Insect Herbivores. PLoS ONE 2 (4): e360. doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0000360
  • Jesus Gómez-Zurita, Toby Hunt, Alfried P. Vogler (2008): Multilocus ribosomal RNA phylogeny of the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae). Cladistics 24: 34-50. doi: 10.1111 / j.1096-0031.2007.00167.x
  • Alberto Prado, Duane D. McKenna, Donald Windsor (2012): Molecular evidence of cycad seed predation by immature Aulacoscelidinae (Coleoptera: Orsodacnidae). Systematic Entomology 37 (4): 747-757. doi: 10.1111 / j.1365-3113.2012.00639.x

Web links

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