The Megalopodidae are a small family of leaf beetles, previously included as a subfamily within the
Chrysomelidae. One of its constituent subfamilies,
Zeugophorinae, has also frequently been treated as a subfamily within Chrysomelidae. The family contains approximately 30 genera worldwide, primarily in the nominate subfamily
Megalopodinae, and mostly
circumtropical.
The larvae of some species are
leaf miners
A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths ( Lepidoptera), sawflies ( Symphyta, the mother clade of wasp ...
on various host plants. Other larvae feed on stem-tissue or pollen grains of conifer
strobili
A strobilus (plural: strobili) is a structure present on many land plant species consisting of sporangia-bearing structures densely aggregated along a stem. Strobili are often called cones, but some botanists restrict the use of the term cone to th ...
. Once fully grown, the larvae drops to the ground and pupates.
[Lawrence, John F. and Ślipiński, Adam. "Megalopodidae Latreille, 1802: Arthropoda: Insecta (Vol. 4)". ''Handbook of Zoology Online'', edited by Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 2014.]
References
* ; 1990: Palophaginae, a new subfamily for leaf-beetles, feeding as adult and larva on araucarian pollen in Australia (Coleoptera: Megalopodidae). ''Invertebrate taxonomy'', 3: 697–719
* 1802: ''Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes. Tome 3''. F. Dufart, Paris
Internet ArchiveBHL
* (eds). 201
Catalogue of Palearctic Coleoptera. Vol. 6: Chrysomeloidea
Apollo Books, Stenstrup, Denmark
, p. 334
External links
Australian Faunal Directory
Megalopodidae,
Beetle families
{{Megalopodidae-stub