Eobelinae

Taxobox
name = Eobelinae
fossil_range = Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous


image_width = 240px
image_caption =
status = fossil
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Hexapoda
classis = Insecta
subclassis = Pterygota
infraclassis = Neoptera
superordo = Endopterygota
ordo = Coleoptera
subordo = Polyphaga
infraordo = Cucujiformia
superfamilia = Curculionoidea
familia = Belidae
subfamilia = Eobelinae
subfamilia_authority = Arnoldi, 1977
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = 9, see text
synonyms = Eobelini

Eobelinae are a prehistoric beetle subfamily that thrived in the late Mesozoic but is entirely extinct nowadays. They belong to the belids or "primitive weevils" of the family Belidae. The Belidae today occur only from the Australia-New Guinea-New Zealand region to Southeast Asia, some Pacific islands, South and Central America and a few locations in Africa. The Eobelidae were more widespread, occurring at least in Central Asia, Spain and Brazil during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (about 161-100 million years ago)Ming "et al." (2006)] .

Description

Adult Eobelidae are rcognizable by their elongated and flat body and long rostrum ("snout"), the latter being longer than the head and pronotum together. Like in other belids, their antennae were straight, not elbowed as in the true weevils (Curculionidae); they insert near the rostrum's center. The "forehead" between the rostrum base and the eyes has a marked outward bulge. The tibiae of the middle and hind legs have spurs at their tips.

Their larvae are unknown. Presumably they fed on the wood and fruits of diseased or dying plants or on deadwood, with healthy plants less important as food, like the living belids. Given that Araucariaceae are the host plants of many of the older extant lineages of belids, it is quite likely that Eobelinae utilized these conifers too. Indeed, the Araucariaceae flourished at the same time as the Eobelidae, whereas most other known host plants of belids are angiosperms, a group of which the first primitive members (e.g. "Archaefructus") lived at the same time as the Eobelidae.Marvaldi "et al." (2006)]

ystematics

They are sometimes placed as a tribe Eobelini, but the tribes of Belinae are attested in the Paleogene; the radiation of the Belinae subfamilies thus probably took place later in the Cretaceous. Thus the treatment as subfamily is most appropriate for the time being. It remains to be seen however if the Eobelidae as circumscribed here is monophyletic, or contains basal members of the extant belid subfamilies too.

Genera:
*"Archaeorrhynchus" Martynov, 1926 (Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan)
*"Belonotaris" Arnoldi, 1977 (Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan - Early Cretaceous of Russia)
*"Davidibelus" Zherikhin & Gratshev, 2004 (Early Cretaceous of Brazil)
*"Eobelus" Arnoldi, 1977 (Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan)
*"Longidorsum" Zhang, 1977 (Early Cretaceous of China)
*"Microprobelus" Ming, Dong & Chungkun, 2006 (Yixian Early Cretaceous of Lingyuan City, China)
*"Montsecbelus" Zherikhin & Gratshev, 1997 (Early Cretaceous of Spain)
*"Probelopsis" Arnoldi, 1977 (Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan)
*"Probelus" Arnoldi, 1977 (Late Jurassic of Karatau Range, Kazakhstan - Yixian Early Cretaceous of Hebei, China)

Footnotes

References

* (2006): Phylogeny of the Oxycoryninae sensu lato (Coleoptera: Belidae) and evolution of host-plant associations. "Invertebrate Systematics" 20: 447–476. doi|10.1071/IS05059 (HTML abstract)
* (2006): A new fossil weevil (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea, Belidae) from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China. "Progress in Natural Science" 16 (8): 885-888. doi|10.1080/10020070612330084 (HTML abstract)