- Archostemata
Taxobox
name = Archostemata
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Arthropod a
classis =Insect a
ordo = Coleoptera
subordo = Archostemata
subordo_authority = Kolbe, 1908
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision =Crowsoniellidae Cupedidae Jurodidae Micromalthidae Ommatidae Archostemata is the smallest
suborder ofbeetle s, consisting of fewer than 50 known species organized into five families. Archostemata is an ancient lineage with a number of primitive characteristics. They are similar in morphology to the first beetles, which appear in the fossil record approximately 250 million years ago. Antennaefiliform ormoniliform . This suborder also contains the onlypaedogenic beetles, "Micromalthus debilis ".These beetles are considered rare. Fossil deposits from the
Permian suggest that Archostemata were once much more common and dispersed over a wide portion of the globe, and the species that remain are but scattered vestiges of their former population. There are today 5 families worldwide (Crowsoniellidae ,Cupedidae ,Jurodidae ,Micromalthidae , andOmmatidae ), with only two (Cupedidae and Micromalthidae) occurring in North America.References
*
Richard E. White , "A Field Guide to Beetles of North America " (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983)External links
* [http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Archostemata Tree of Life - Archostemata]
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