Rhipiceridae is a family of beetles found worldwide. The larva of rhipicerids are

parasitoids In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasi ...

of cicada nymphs. Rhipiceridae and

Dascillidae Dascillidae is a family of beetles within the clade Elateriformia. There are about 100 extant species in 11 genera, which are found worldwide. Dascillidae together with Rhipiceridae form the super family Dascilloidea. Taxonomy The family was na ...

form the super family Dascilloidea, within the

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 ...

Taxonomic History

The taxonomic history of Rhipiceridae began with J. Fabricius who described ''Hispa mystacina'' in 1775, which was later included in the new genus ''Rhipicera'' by Latreille (1817) who rightly noticed that the Fabrician species did not belong to ''Hispa'' and placed it in the tribe ‘Cebrionites’ along with ''Cebrio'', ''Dascillus'' and ''Scirtes''. Since then W. Kirby, J. O. Westwood and others described several new species of ''Rhipicera'' from Australia and South America.

Subfamilies and Distribution

Rhipiceridae includes seven genera and about a hundred described species divided into two subfamilies, Rhipicerinae and Sandalinae. Sandalinae include most of the species and are known from North and South America, Africa, south-eastern Europe and Asia, while much less numerous Rhipicerinae, from Chile, New Caledonia and Australia, is a monophyletic lineage supported by several unambiguous apomorphies, like antennae composed of more than 11 antennomeres, relatively well developed maxillary galea and incomplete lateral pronotal carina.

Ecology

The larval stages of riphicerids are external parasitioids on the nymphs of

cicadas The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

. In the species '' Sandalus niger,'' the eggs are deposited into the same holes and fissures in the bark of elm trees that cicadas deposit their eggs in. Subsequently, the first instars drop to the group alongside the cicada nymphs, and thereafter attach themselves to them. The abundance of adult rhipicerids tracks that of the emergence of adult cicadas."Rhipiceridae Latreille, 1834: Coleoptera, Beetles". ''Handbook of Zoology Online'', edited by Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2016

Genera

Rhipicerinae: * '' Oligorhipis'' Guérin-Méneville, 1843 Australia, New Caledonia * '' Polymerius'' Philippi, 1871 Chile * '' Polytomus'' Dalman, 1819 southern South America * '' Rhipicera'' Latreille, 1817 Australia Sandalinae: * '' Arrhaphipterus'' Schaum, 1862 Europe to Central Asia * '' Chamoerhipis'' Latreille, 1834 Africa * '' Sandalus'' Knoch, 1801 Americas, Asia, Africa

Gallery

Sandalus niger Knoch.jpg, up'' Sandalus niger'' Rhicpicera femorata - feather horned Beetle - Feb 2022 - Werrington - 3.jpg, ''Rhicpicera femorata'' Rhipicera sp.jpg, ''Rhipicera mystacina'' Rhipicera carinata - Beetle - 1 of 2.jpg, '' Rhipicera carinata'' - Western Australia Rhipicera carinata - Beetle 2.jpg, ''Rhipicera carinata'' - Western Australia Rhipicera carinata - Feather Horned Beetle 3.jpg, ''Rhipicera carinata'' Feather horned beetle - Flickr - jeans Photos.jpg, ''Rhipicera carinata'' - antennae

References

External links

* Elateriformia Beetle families Polyphaga families {{polyphaga-stub