Overview
Chrysomeloidea is an enormous of beetles. There are tens of thousands of species, mostly in the families Cerambycidae (the long-horned beetles) and Chrysomelidae, the leaf beetles.
Several species in these two families are important plant pests. The spotted cucumber beetle is a serious pest of vegetables and is a very common insect on all sorts of flowers. The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, attacks potatoes and other members of the Solanaceae. The Asian long-horned beetle is a serious pest of trees where it has been introduced.
Some authorities have suggested removing the Cerambycidae and related families (Disteniidae, Oxypeltidae, and Vesperidae) from Chrysomeloidea to create a separate superfamily "Cerambycoidea" (e.g., 1]), but in the absence of evidence to support the monophyly of the resulting groups, this proposal has not yet been accepted by the scientific community.
Photos
Taxonomy
The Superfamily Chrysomeloidea is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Family (3): Bruchidae · Cerambycidae · Chrysomelidae
Families
Bruchidae
The bean weevils or seed beetles are a (Bruchinae) of beetles, now placed in the family Chrysomelidae, though they have historically been treated as a separate family. They are granivores, and typically infest various kinds of seeds or beans, living for most of their lives inside a single seed. The family includes about 1,350 species found worldwide. [more]
Cerambycidae
The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae; also known as long-horned beetles or, more archaically, longicorns) are a cosmopolitan family of , typically characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than the beetle's body. In various members of the family, however, the antennae are quite short (e.g., Neandra brunnea, figured below) and such species can be difficult to distinguish from related beetle families such as Chrysomelidae. The family is large, with over 20,000 species described, slightly more than half from the Eastern Hemisphere. Several are serious pests, with the larvae boring into wood, where they can cause extensive damage to either living trees or untreated lumber (or, occasionally, to wood in buildings; the old-house borer, Hylotrupes bajulus, being a particular problem indoors). A number of species mimic ants, bees, and wasps, though a majority of species are cryptically co lored. The rare giant long-horned beetle (Titanus giganteus) from northeastern South America is often considered the largest (though not the heaviest, and not the longest including legs) insect, with a maximum known body length of just over 16 centimeters. [more]
Chrysomelidae
Beetles in the family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles. This is a of over 35,000 species in more than 2,500 genera, one of the largest and most commonly-encountered of all beetle families. [more]
At least 7,745 species and subspecies belong to the Family Chrysomelidae.
More info about the Family Chrysomelidae may be found here.
References
- ^ P. Svacha and M.L. Danilevsky (1990) Cerambycoid larvae of Europe and Soviet Union (Coleoptera Cerambycoidea). Part I. Entomologia Generalis, 15(3): 202.
Sources
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