Micromalthidae is an ancient

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of small

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s belonging to the suborder

Archostemata The Archostemata are the smallest suborder of beetles, consisting of 50 living species in five families and over 200 described fossil species. They are an ancient lineage with a number of primitive characteristics. Antenna (biology), Antennae may ...

. The only known living representative is the telephone-pole beetle, ''Micromalthus debilis''. A few extinct species have been described, the oldest being the

Late Permian Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Groh ...

'' Archaeomalthus synoriacos''. It is one of the oldest families of beetles still existing today. ''Micromalthus debilis'' is remarkable for its paedogenetic reproductive strategy which is almost unique in the animal kingdom, with the partial exception of

Loricifera Loricifera (from Latin, ''wikt:lorica, lorica'', corselet (armour) + ''ferre'', to bear) is a phylum of very small to microscopic marine cycloneuralian sediment-dwelling animals with 43 described species and approximately 100 more that hav ...

, and that could have already evolved in prehistoric Micromalthidae.

References

Beetle families Archostemata Taxa described in 1913 {{Archostemata-stub