Chrysomeloidea

Chrysomeloidea
Chrysomeloidea
Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Superfamily: Chrysomeloidea
Latreille, 1802
Families

Cerambycidae - long-horned beetles
Chrysomelidae - leaf beetles
Disteniidae
Megalopodidae
Orsodacnidae
Oxypeltidae
Vesperidae

Chrysomeloidea is an enormous superfamily of beetles. There are tens of thousands of species, mostly in the families Cerambycidae (the long-horned beetles) and Chrysomelidae, the leaf beetles.

Overview

Several species in these two families are important plant pests. The spotted cucumber beetle is a serious pest of vegetables and is a very common insect on all sorts of flowers. The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, attacks potatoes and other members of the Solanaceae. The Asian long-horned beetle is a serious pest of trees where it has been introduced.

Some authorities have suggested removing the Cerambycidae and related families (Disteniidae, Oxypeltidae, and Vesperidae) from Chrysomeloidea to create a separate superfamily "Cerambycoidea" (e.g., [1]), but in the absence of evidence to support the monophyly of the resulting groups, this proposal has not yet been accepted by the scientific community.

References

  1. ^ P. Švácha and M.L. Danilevsky (1990) Cerambycoid larvae of Europe and Soviet Union (Coleoptera Cerambycoidea). Part I. Entomologia Generalis, 15(3): 202.

External links

Data related to Chrysomeloidea at Wikispecies Media related to Chrysomeloidea at Wikimedia Commons


Stub icon This beetle-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.