Bioluminescent_beetle_Elateroidea_-_animated

The Elateroidea are a large superfamily of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s. It contains the familiar

click beetle Elateridae or click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related families Cerophytidae and Eucnemidae, which are also capable of clicking) are a family of beetles. Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, s ...

fireflies The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

, and

soldier beetle The soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are relatively soft-bodied, straight-sided beetles. They are cosmopolitan in distribution. One of the first described species has a color pattern reminiscent of the red coats of early British soldiers, hence the ...

s and their relatives. It consists of about 25,000 species.

Description

Elateroidea is a morphologically diverse group, including hard-bodied beetles with 5 abdominal ventrites, soft-bodied beetles with 7-8 ventrites connected with membranes (formerly known as cantharoids), and beetles with intermediate forms. They have a range of sizes and colours, but in terms of shape, they are usually narrow and parallel-sided as adults. Many of the sclerotised elateroids (

Cerophytidae The Cerophytidae are a family of beetles belonging to Elateroidea. Larvae are associated with rotting wood, on which they are presumed to feed.Costa, Cleide, Vanin, Sergio A., Lawrence, John F. and Ide, Sergio. "4.4. Cerophytidae Latreille, 1834" ...

Eucnemidae Eucnemidae, or false click beetles, are a family of elateroid beetles including about 1700 species distributed worldwide. Description Closely related to the family Elateridae, specimens of Eucnemidae can reach a length of . Bodies are slight ...

Throscidae Throscidae is a family of elateroid beetles found worldwide (except New Zealand) with around 150 species in 5 extant genera. The larvae are soil-dwelling, siphoning fluid from mycorrhizae attached to trees. The adults are short-lived, with the ...

, Elateridae) have a clicking mechanism. This is a peg on the prothorax which fits into a cavity in the mesothorax. When a click beetle bends its body, the peg snaps into the cavity, causing the beetle's body to straighten so suddenly that it jumps into the air. Most beetles capable of

bioluminescence Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some b ...

are in the Elateroidea, in the families Lampyridae (~2000 species),

Phengodidae The beetle family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose larvae are known as glowworms. The females and larvae have bioluminescent organs. They occur throughout the New World from extreme southern Canada to Chile. The recently re ...

(~200 species),

Rhagophthalmidae The Rhagophthalmidae are a family of beetles within the superfamily Elateroidea. Members of this beetle family have bioluminescent organs on the larvae, and sometimes adults, and are closely related to the Phengodidae (glowworm beetles), though ...

(100 species) and Elateridae (>100 species). Females in several lineages, including

Lycidae The Lycidae are a family in the beetle order Coleoptera, members of which are commonly called net-winged beetles. These beetles are cosmopolitan, being found in Nearctic, Palearctic, Neotropical, Afrotropical, Oriental, and Australian ecoregions ...

, Lampyridae, Phengogidae and Rhagophthalmidae, do not pupate and remain in a larval form. This trait is estimated to have evolved independently at least three times within the superfamily. Some Elateroidea, including species of Cantharidae and Lycidae, have bright

aposematic Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste o ...

colours to signal to predators that they are poisonous and so should not be eaten.

Families

The validity and relationships of some families, such as Podabrocephalidae are not fully resolved. The family Rhinorhipidae has recently been removed to its own superfamily, with evidence that it is a basal taxon within

Elateriformia Elateriformia is an infraorder of polyphagan beetles. The two largest families in this group are buprestids, of which there are around 15,000 described species, and click beetles, of which there are around 10,000 described species. The infraor ...

dating to an Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic split from other extant beetle lineages. *

Artematopodidae Artematopodidae is a family of soft-bodied plant beetles in the superfamily Elateroidea. They are mostly found in understory forest foliage. The life history of the group is obscure, larvae of the genera ''Eurypogon'' and ''Macropogon'' likely fee ...

Lacordaire, 1857 – soft-bodied plant beetles (= Eurypogonidae) *

Brachypsectridae The Brachypsectridae are a family of beetles commonly known as the Texas beetles. There are only two extant genera, '' Brachypsectra'' and '' Asiopsectra. Brachypsectra'' has a cosmopolitan distribution, mostly in arid regions, while ''Asiopsectr ...

Leconte & Horn, 1883 – Texas beetles *

Cantharidae The soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are relatively soft-bodied, straight-sided beetles. They are cosmopolitan in distribution. One of the first described species has a color pattern reminiscent of the Red coat (British army), red coats of early Bri ...

Imhoff, 1856 – soldier beetles *

Latreille, 1834 – rare click beetles *

Elateridae Elateridae or click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related families Cerophytidae and Eucnemidae, which are also capable of clicking) are a family of beetles. Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, sp ...

Leach Leach may refer to: * Leach (surname) * Leach, Oklahoma, an unincorporated community, United States * Leach, Tennessee, an unincorporated community, United States * Leach Highway, Western Australia * Leach orchid * Leach phenotype, a mutation in ...

, 1815 – click beetles (including Ampedidae, Balgidae, Dicronychidae, Drilidae, Lissomidae, Plastoceridae, Prosternidae, Protelateridae, Pyrophoridae, Synaptidae) *

Eschscholtz, 1829 –

false click beetle False or falsehood may refer to: *False (logic), the negation of truth in classical logic *Lie or falsehood, a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement *false (Unix), a Unix command * ''False'' (album), a 1992 album by Gorefest *Ma ...

s (including Anischiidae and Perothopidae) *

Iberobaeniidae ''Iberobaenia'' is a genus of elateroid beetle. It is the only member of the family Iberobaeniidae. It was first described in 2016, from two species found in Southern Spain. A third species was described in 2017, from the same region. Like some ...

Bocak ''et al.'', 2016 *

Jurasaidae Jurasaidae is a family of elateroid beetles known from around a half-dozen species in two genera found the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest including drier transitional areas bordering the Caatinga. All known species have neotenic Neoteny (), als ...

Rosa, Costa, Klamp & Kundrata, 2020 *

– net-winged beetles *

Omethidae Omethidae is a family of Elateroidea sometimes known as the false soldier beetles. They are native to South, Southeast and Eastern Asia and the Americas. Their biology is obscure and their larvae are unknown. They appear to inhabit vegetation in ...

LeConte, 1861 –

false firefly beetle False or falsehood may refer to: *False (logic), the negation of truth in classical logic * Lie or falsehood, a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement *false (Unix), a Unix command * ''False'' (album), a 1992 album by Gorefest *M ...

s (including Telegeusidae) *

Laporte, 1840 – false metallic wood-boring beetles (= Trixagidae) * †

Mysteriomorphidae ''Mysteriomorphus'' is an extinct genus of beetle, and the only member of the family Mysteriomorphidae. It is known from one described species, ''Mysteriomorphus pelevini'' found in Burmese amber, dating to the early part of the Cenomanian stage ...

Alekseev and Ellenberger, 2019 (Cretaceous) * Lampyroid clade ** † Cretophengodidae Li, Kundrata, Tihelka & Cai, 2021 (Cretaceous) **

Lampyridae The Lampyridae are a family (biology), family of Elateroidea, elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are bioluminescence, light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, ...

Latreille, 1817 – firefly beetles **

LeConte 1861 – glowworm beetles (including Cydistinae) **

Olivier Olivier is the French form of the given name Oliver. It may refer to: * Olivier (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Olivier (surname), a list of people * Château Olivier, a Bordeaux winery *Olivier, Louisiana, a rural popul ...

, 1907 (sometimes in Phengodidae, might belong in Lampyridae) ** Sinopyrophoridae Bi & Li, 2019 *''Incertae sedis'': **†'' Anoeuma'' Li, Kundrata & Cai, 2022 (Cretaceous)

Phylogeny

Some morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses find that Byrrhoidea is either a monophyletic or paraphyletic group closely related to Elateroidea. Based on Kusy et al. 2018 and 2020

References

External links

Tree of Life - Elateroidea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elateroidea Beetle superfamilies