Eucnemidae, or false click beetles, are a family of elateroid beetles including about 1700 species distributed worldwide.
Description
Closely related to the family Elateridae, specimens of Eucnemidae can reach a length of . Bodies are slightly flattened and convex. The upper surfaces of the body usually has hairs, setae or scales.
Ecology
The larvae are typically legless, and generally develop feeding on the fluids of rotting wood, likely vomiting digestive enzymes into the wood to break apart the fungal hyphae, moving using their shovel shaped heads to force apart the wood. Adults, which are typically found on broken surfaces of trunks and stumps, have a short lifespan and it is unclear whether they feed, though they are capable fliers, and like some other elateroids are capable of clicking.
Taxonomy
Subfamilies
Anischiinae Fleutiaux, 1936
Eucneminae Eschscholtz, 1829
Macraulacinae Fleutiaux, 1922
Melasinae Leach, 1817
Palaeoxeninae Muona, 1993
Perothopinae Lacordaire, 1857 – perothopid beetles
Phlegoninae Muona, 1993
Phyllocerinae Reitter, 1905
Pseudomeninae Muona, 1993
Fossil genera
†Beattieellus Oberprieler et al. 2016 – Talbragar Fossil Bed, Australia, Late Jurassic (Tithonian) †Cenomana Otto, 2019 – Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) †Lissantauga Poinar 2013 – Dominican amber, Miocene †Muonabuntor Li, Tihelka & Cai, 2020 – Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
References
Biolib
Discover Life
J. F. Lawrence, A. M. Hastings, M. J. Dallwitz, T. A. Paine and E. J. Zurcher Elateriformia (Coleoptera) "Synopsis of the Described Coleoptera of the World" Muona, J. 1993. Review of the phylogeny, classification and biology of the family Eucnemidae (Coleoptera). Entomologica Scandinavica, Supplement No. 44, 133 pp.