Syntelia
| Syntelia | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Synteliidae | ||||||||||||
| Lewis , 1882 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Syntelia | ||||||||||||
| Westwood , 1864 |
Syntelia is the only genus of the Synteliidae family within the beetle suborder Polyphaga . So far, seven species have been described, two other species of the genus are known but are currently not described.
features
Beetle
The beetles are 10 to 35 millimeters long. Their strong, convex body is elongated and has more or less parallel sides. It is black, matt to slightly shiny and in some species has a light blue-green metallic sheen. The head is two-thirds as wide as the pronotum , the mouthparts point forward or slightly downward. The head cannot be drawn in under the pronotum . Its surface is usually weakly structured, the compound eyes are large and oval. The eleven-link antennae are short, slightly kneeled, and turn in under a small protrusion between the compound eyes and the base of the mandibles . At rest, the antennae are curved under the head, where the scapus and pedicellus fit into a clear pit. The last three antennae form a large, densely hairy antenna lobe. The mandibles are very elongated and protruding strongly. Their mesial edge is blade-shaped and has three to four teeth. The maxilla has very hairy galea and lacinia , the latter lacks an apical tooth. The maxillary palps are four-limbed, the labial palps three- limbed .
The prothorax can move freely and is not closely connected to the rest of the thorax . The pronotum is more or less trapezoidal and is widest in the first third. Its surface is differently designed, but in most species it is weakly point-shaped. The visible part of the scutellum is medium-sized and almost triangular to small and finger-like. The wings are long, flat on the back, curved on the sides. Its tip is truncated, which means that only the telson , i.e. the tergum of the seventh abdominal segment, remains visible. The cover wings have 3 to 10 irregular lines of pits or points of different depth. The membranous wings (alae) are developed. The tarsi of all three pairs of legs are five-limbed.
The abdomen has five visible, slightly punctiform structured sternites (III to VII) and a visible, strongly punctured tergum (VII). The eighth abdominal segment, which is only slightly sclerotized, is completely everted together with the genitals. The stigmas are only functional from the first to the sixth abdomen segment, those of the seventh to the eighth are stunted. All terga are well sclerotized, but the seventh is stronger than the others.
Pre-imaginal stages
The pre-imaginal stages are known only from Syntelia histeroides , the eggs are completely unknown. As with the stutz beetles (Histeridae), there are only two larval stages. The larvae have an elongated, straight, slightly flattened body with parallel side edges. The body is only slightly sclerotized and pigmented. The heavily sclerotized head is elongated and the mouthparts are directed forward. The antennae are tripartite and half as long as the head is wide. The short legs are five-limbed. The abdomen has 10 segments and is more than twice as long as the thorax. The pupation takes place in a free doll functional stigmata on the segments I or II to VI has.
distribution and habitat
The genus occurs very disjointly on the one hand with five species in the mountain regions of East Asia with a distribution in India, Burma to China, Japan and the east of Russia, on the other hand with two described and two as yet undescribed species in Central America with a distribution in Mexico and Guatemala.
The beetles mainly colonize medium to high subtropical to tropical mountain locations between 1500 and 3900 meters above sea level. The most well-studied species, Syntelia histeroides , also occurs in lower elevations, where the adults and larvae have been found under the moist bark of rotting trees such as Phellodendron sachalinense .
Way of life
The larvae of Syntelia histeroides and probably also the adults live predatory on other insects living under the bark. Pupation takes place under the bark, but without a pupa cradle. A way of life under bark is known of at least several species. In summer the beetles can also be found on the sap leaking from oaks and elms . Syntelia westwoodi , however, inhabits the high desert areas in the southern Mexican central plateau between 1700 and 3000 meters above sea level, where the adults were found in the damp, decaying interior of dead large columnar cacti. There they hunt fly larvae.
Taxonomy and systematics
Syntelia has a sister relationship to the stutz beetles (Histeridae), which has been confirmed both by the characteristics of the larvae and adults and by molecular genetic studies. The presumed autapomorphies of Syntelia include, among other things, the lack of a suture on the epistoma , the fusing of the labrum with the front of the head and the pits on the outside of the hips ( coxae ) of the front legs.
The following types have been described so far:
- Syntelia davidis Fairmaire, 1889
- Syntelia mazuri Zhou, 2003
- Syntelia sinica Zhou, 2003
- Syntelia indica Westwood, 1864
- Syntelia histeroides Lewis, 1882
- Syntelia mexicana Westwood, 1864
- Syntelia westwoodi sallé, 1873
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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 , p. 187 ff . (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).
