Lably
Skip to content

Prionoceridae

Family of beetles

  • 2 min read
  • 2 chapters

Explore on Lably

ToursExplore Lably’s 3D tours

Description

Beetles in the family are elongate with soft elytra. The elytra are often covered with rows of hairs. The margin of the eyes are not round but notched anteriorly. The head faces forward (prognathous) and the clypeal region is produced into a short flat snout. Each of the legs have five tarsi (5-5-4 in the Oedemeridae) with simple claws and a single spur on the pro-tibia. Male Idgia and Prionocerus have a comb on the inner edge of the distal tarsal segment of the foreleg. The genera Nacerdes and Xanthochroa in the family Oedemeridae and some Cantharidae bear resemblance to some of the Prionoceridae.

Members of the family were formerly included as a subfamily within the closely related Melyridae (the genus Lobonyx in Dasytinae). The fossil record of Prionoceridae has been recorded from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds of China (Idgiaites jurassicus), the Cenomanian Burmese amber (Cretaidgia burmensis) and Ypresian Hat creek Amber from Canada (Prionocerites tattriei).

Sign in to keep reading

One more chapter is free with a Lably account.

More in Animals

Monotypic taxonTaxonomic group with only one subordinate taxonSpecies descriptionFormal description of a discovered speciesParaphylyType of taxonomic groupIUCN Red ListInventory of the global conservation status of biological speciesSubtropicsGeographic and climate zoneCommon nameName generally used for a taxon, group of taxa or organism(s)