Cyclaxyridae Explained

Cyclaxyridae are a family of beetles in the superfamily Cucujoidea. The only living genus is Cyclaxyra, with two species endemic to New Zealand. Other species have been named from fossils. They are also known as sooty mould beetles due to the association of Cyclaxyra with sooty mould. The extant species are mycophagous, feeding on spores, conidia, and hyphae.^[1]

Genera

• Cyclaxyra Broun, 1893, New Zealand, recent
  • Cyclaxyra jelineki Gimmel, 2009
  • Cyclaxyra politula (Broun, 1881)
• †Electroxyra Gimmel, Szawaryn, Cai and Leschen, 2019^[2]
  • Electroxyra cretacea (Wu in Wu, Li and Ding, 2018^[3]) Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
• †Pacyclaxyra Tihelka, Huang and Cai, 2021^[4]
  • Pacyclaxyra azari Tihelka, Huang and Cai, 2021 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• †Neolitochropus Lyubarsky and Perkovsky, 2016^{[5] [6]}
  • Neolitochropus hoffeinsorum Lyubarsky & Perkovsky, 2016 Bitterfeld amber, Rovno amber, Baltic amber, Europe, Eocene

Notes and References

1. Gimmel ML, Leschen RA, Ślipiński SA . 2009. Review of the New Zealand endemic family Cyclaxyridae, new family (Coleoptera: Polyphaga). Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae. 49. 2. 0374-1036.
2. Gimmel ML, Szawaryn K, Cai C, Leschen RA . Mesozoic sooty mould beetles as living relicts in New Zealand . Proceedings. Biological Sciences . 286 . 1917 . 20192176 . December 2019 . 31847777 . 6939926 . 10.1098/rspb.2019.2176 .
3. Wu H, Li L, Ding M . November 2018 . The first cyclaxyrid beetle from Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Cyclaxyridae) . Cretaceous Research . 91. 66–70. 10.1016/j.cretres.2018.05.015. 0195-6671.
4. Tihelka E, Huang D, Cai C . September 2021 . A new genus of giant sooty mould beetles from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Cyclaxyridae) . Cretaceous Research . 125. 104876. 10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104876 .
5. Lyubarsky GY, Perkovsky EE . 2016 . A new genus, Neolitochropus (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Phalacridae), from the Upper Eocene Bitterfeld amber. . Russian Entomol. J. . 25 . 1–5 . 10.15298/rusentj.25.1.01 . free .
6. Gimme. Matthew L.. Szawaryn. Karol. 2020-12-11. A new genus-level and two new species-level synonyms in the extinct genus Neolitochropus Lyubarsky & Perkovsky (Coleoptera: Cyclaxyridae). Zootaxa. 4894. 4. 598–599. 10.11646/zootaxa.4894.4.7. 1175-5334.