Sphindidae Explained

Sphindidae is a family of beetles, in the suborder Polyphaga.^{[1] [2]} They are called slime mold beetles due to their exclusive feeding on slime molds during adult and larval stages, other aspects of their life history are obscure.^[3] Palaeontological discoveries since 2015 have added to the geologic history of Sphindidae, including the discovery of Libanopsis, placed in the extinct subfamily Libanopsinae.

Genera

Eight living genera are placed in Sphindidae:

• Aspidiphorus Latreille, 1829
• Carinisphindus McHugh, 1900
• Eurysphindus LeConte, 1878
• Genisphindus McHugh, 1993
• Odontosphindus LeConte, 1878
• Protosphindus Sen Gupta and Crowson, 1979
• Sphindiphorus Sen Gupta and Crowson, 1979
• Sphindus Megerle in Dejean, 1821 (cryptic slime mold beetles)
• Trematosphindus Li & Cai, 2021, Burmese amber, Myanmar, and Taimyr amber, Russia;^[4] Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
• Burmops Kirejtshuk et al. 2019^[5] Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)

Additionally the extinct subfamily Libanopsinae contains the genus Libanopsis encompassing five species from Cretaceous Lebanese amber.^[6]

External links

• Sphindidae Tree of Life

Notes and References

1. Web site: Family SPHINDIDAE . environment.gov.au . November 2, 2010.
2. Web site: Nomen.at - Search "Cucujoidea" . nomen.at . November 2, 2010.
3. Li. Yan-Da. Tihelka. Erik. Liu. Zhen-Hua. Huang. Di-Ying. Cai. Chen-Yang. 2021-11-23. New mid-Cretaceous cryptic slime mold beetles and the early evolution of Sphindidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny. en. 79. 587–597. 10.3897/asp.79.e72724. 1864-8312. free.
4. Legalov . Andrei A. . Vasilenko . Dmitry V. . Perkovsky . Evgeny E. . 2024 . A new species of the genus Trematosphindus Li et Cai, 2021 (Coleoptera: Sphindidae) from Cenomanian Taimyr amber . Ecologica Montenegrina . 71 . 165–171 . 10.37828/em.2024.71.15 . free .
5. Kirejtshuk. Alexander G.. Willig. Cyril. Chetverikov. Philipp E.. 2019-12-20. Discovery of a new sphindid genus (Coleoptera, Sphindidae, Protosphindinae) in Cretaceous amber of Northern Myanmar and taxonomic notes. Palaeoentomology. en. 2. 6. 602–610–602–610. 10.11646/palaeoentomology.2.6.11. 2624-2834.
6. Kirejtshuk . Alexander G. . Chetverikov . Philipp E. . Azar . Dany. 2015 . Libanopsinae, new subfamily of the family Sphindidae (Coleoptera, Cucujoidea) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber, with remarks on using confocal microscopy for the study of amber inclusions . Cretaceous Research . 52, Part B . 461–479 . 10.1016/j.cretres.2014.02.008.