Elateroidea
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 Adelocera murina, a click beetle
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See text. |
Elateroidea is a large superfamily of beetles. It contains the familiar click beetles, fireflies, and soldier beetles, and their relatives. Certain clusters of families within the superfamily are more strongly related to one another; for example, the Elateridae has close ties to Anischiidae, Cerophytidae, Eucnemidae, and Throscidae (some of these beetles can also "click"). Likewise, the Lampyridae are very closely related to Drilidae, Omalisidae, Phengodidae (which includes Telegeusidae), and Rhagophthalmidae; members of these families are also bioluminescent, at least as larvae. This group of families also includes many taxa whose females are larviform, though this is also known from a few other families in the superfamily.
It contains these families:
- Anischiidae
- Artematopodidae Lacordaire 1857 (soft-bodied plant beetles) = (Eurypogonidae)
- Brachypsectridae Leconte and Horn 1883 (Texas beetles)
- Cantharidae Imhoff 1856 (soldier beetles) = (Chauliognathidae)
- Cerophytidae Latreille 1834 (rare click beetles)
- Drilidae Blanchard 1845
- Elateridae Leach 1815 (click beetles) = (Ampedidae, Campylidae, Cavicoxumidae, Dicronychidae, Lissomidae, Ludiidae, Monocrepidiidae, Pangauridae, Phyllophoridae, Prosternidae, Protelateridae, Pyrophoridae, Synaptidae)
- incl. Cebrioninae or Cebrionidae Latreille 1802
- Eucnemidae Eschscholtz 1829 (false click beetles)
- incl. Perothopidae
- Lampyridae Latreille 1817 (firefly beetles)
- Lycidae Laporte 1836 (net-winged beetles)
- Omalisidae Lacordaire 1857 = (Homalisidae, Omalysidae)
- Omethidae LeConte 1861 (false firefly beetles)
- Phengodidae LeConte 1861 (glowworm beetles)
- incl. Telegeusidae Leng 1920 (long-lipped beetles)
- Plastoceridae Crowson 1972
- Podabrocephalidae Pic 1930 - incertae sedis
- Rhagophthalmidae
- Rhinorhipidae Lawrence 1988 - incertae sedis
- Throscidae Laporte 1840 (false metallic wood-boring beetles) = (Balgidae, Trixagidae)
[edit] External links
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 A lycid beetle from the Western Ghats |
