Texas beetle larvae (Brachypsectridae) – the last 100 million years reviewed

Abstract Larvae of Brachypsectridae (Texas beetles) have often been considered rare. However, they are known from North America, Asia and Australia in the extant fauna, and from Miocene, Eocene and Cretaceous ambers. We review the overall record of extant and fossil larvae of Brachypsectridae represented in the literature. Furthermore, we present three new specimens, which were all documented via light microscopy. Two of the specimens are from Baltic amber, and the third one is from the Cretaceous amber of Myanmar; the latter was additionally documented via synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography. The number of known extant specimens, more than 20, is unusually high compared to other small groups of beetles and with respect to the low number of eight formally described species. The number of fossil specimens from the Miocene, Eocene and Cretaceous is low, two to three specimens per time slice. This makes a comparison of morphological diversity difficult. Still such an analysis of overall body shape as well as of the anterior body region revealed no significant quantitatively recognisable changes over time. However, some qualitative changes in the morphology of the antenna and lateral processes from the Cretaceous to younger faunas could be identified.

[1]  C. Haug,et al.  EXPANDING THE RECORD OF LARVAE OF FALSE FLOWER BEETLES WITH PROMINENT TERMINAL ENDS , 2022, RIVISTA ITALIANA DI PALEONTOLOGIA E STRATIGRAFIA.

[2]  C. Haug,et al.  The morphological diversity of long-necked lacewing larvae (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontiformia) , 2021, Bulletin of Geosciences.

[3]  C. Haug,et al.  Changes in the Morphological Diversity of Larvae of Lance Lacewings, Mantis Lacewings and Their Closer Relatives over 100 Million Years , 2021, Insects.

[4]  C. Haug,et al.  Split-footed lacewings declined over time: indications from the morphological diversity of their antlion-like larvae , 2021, PalZ.

[5]  E. Jarzembowski,et al.  The first record of brachypsectrid larva from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Polyphaga) , 2020 .

[6]  J. Lawrence,et al.  A new Brachypsectra LeConte from Australia (Coleoptera: Brachypsectridae) with comparative notes on adults and larvae , 2020 .

[7]  Diying Huang,et al.  First Mesozoic brachypsectrid beetles in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Brachypsectridae) , 2020 .

[8]  V. Perrichot,et al.  The decline of silky lacewings and morphological diversity of long-nosed antlion larvae through time , 2020, Palaeontologia Electronica.

[9]  C. Haug,et al.  A 100-million-year old slim insectan predator with massive venom-injecting stylets - a new type of neuropteran larva from Burmese amber , 2019 .

[10]  Diying Huang,et al.  Diverse Texas beetles (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Brachypsectridae) in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber: sexual dimorphism and palaeoecology , 2019, Palaeoentomology.

[11]  C. Haug,et al.  Beetle larvae with unusually large terminal ends and a fossil that beats them all (Scraptiidae, Coleoptera) , 2019, PeerJ.

[12]  C. Haug,et al.  A 100-million-year old predator: a fossil neuropteran larva with unusually elongated mouthparts , 2019, Zoological Letters.

[13]  C. Haug,et al.  A new thylacocephalan crustacean from the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones of southern Germany and the diversity of Thylacocephala , 2019, Palaeodiversity.

[14]  D. Ren,et al.  COLEOPTERA – Beetles , 2019, Britain's Insects.

[15]  C. Haug,et al.  Species, populations and morphotypes through time - challenges and possible concepts , 2017 .

[16]  C. Makris,et al.  The genus Brachypsectra LeConte, 1874 (Coleoptera: Brachypsectridae) in the Palaearctic Region , 2017 .

[17]  Jan Sijbers,et al.  Fast and flexible X-ray tomography using the ASTRA toolbox. , 2016, Optics express.

[18]  R. Garwood,et al.  Evolution of insect wings and development – new details from Palaeozoic nymphs , 2016, Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

[19]  Brian D. Farrell,et al.  The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end‐Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution , 2015 .

[20]  Jan Sijbers,et al.  The ASTRA Toolbox: A platform for advanced algorithm development in electron tomography. , 2015, Ultramicroscopy.

[21]  Thomas Dose,et al.  P05 imaging beamline at PETRA III: first results , 2014, Optics & Photonics - Optical Engineering + Applications.

[22]  L. Bocak,et al.  The comprehensive phylogeny of the superfamily Elateroidea (Coleoptera: Elateriformia). , 2014, Molecular phylogenetics and evolution.

[23]  Xianghui Xiao,et al.  Time-lapse X-ray phase-contrast microtomography for in vivo imaging and analysis of morphogenesis , 2014, Nature Protocols.

[24]  C. Haug,et al.  Isolated mantis shrimp dactyli from the Pliocene of North Carolina and their bearing on the history of Stomatopoda , 2013 .

[25]  C. Müller,et al.  A centipede nymph in Baltic amber and a new approach to document amber fossils , 2013, Organisms Diversity & Evolution.

[26]  Andreas Kopmann,et al.  UFO: A Scalable GPU-based Image Processing Framework for On-line Monitoring , 2012, 2012 IEEE 14th International Conference on High Performance Computing and Communication & 2012 IEEE 9th International Conference on Embedded Software and Systems.

[27]  C. Hoffeins.  On Baltic amber inclusions treated in an autoclave , 2012 .

[28]  Patrik Vagovič,et al.  LPE grown LSO:Tb scintillator films for high-resolution X-ray imaging applications at synchrotron light sources , 2011 .

[29]  Gerd Mayer,et al.  Imaging and Documenting Gammarideans , 2011 .

[30]  A. Seago,et al.  Phylogeny of the Coleoptera Based on Morphological Characters of Adults and Larvae , 2011 .

[31]  G. Poinar,et al.  How long can insect species exist? Evidence from extant and fossil Micromalthus beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) , 2010 .

[32]  G. Poinar.  Palaeoecological perspectives in Dominican amber , 2010 .

[33]  R. Beutel.  Phylogenetic analysis of Elateriformia (Coleoptera: Polyphaga) based on larval characters , 2009 .

[34]  K. Blair.  BRACHYPSECTRA, LEC.—THE SOLUTION OF AN ENTOMOLOGICAL ENIGMA , 2009 .

[35]  T.,et al.  First fossil stomatopod larva ( Arthropoda : Crustacea ) and a new way of documenting Solnhofen fossils ( Upper Jurassic , Southern Germany ) , 2008 .

[36]  M. Scoble,et al.  Lepidoptera phylogeny and systematics: the state of inventorying moth and butterfly diversity , 2007 .

[37]  T. Hunt,et al.  Molecular phylogenetics of Elateriformia (Coleoptera): evolution of bioluminescence and neoteny , 2007 .

[38]  Paul M. Choate,et al.  Evolution of the Insects , 2006 .

[39]  S. Vanin,et al.  Review of the Family Brachypsectridae (Coleoptera: Elateroidea) , 2006 .

[40]  R. Cruickshank,et al.  Geology of an amber locality in the Hukawng Valley, Northern Myanmar , 2003 .

[41]  R. Woodruff.  A new species of the beetle genus Brachypsectra from the Dominican Republic, with fossil connections (Coleoptera: Brachypsectridae) , 2002 .

[42]  G. Poinar,et al.  The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World. , 1999 .

[43]  S. Taber,et al.  REVIEW OF BRACHYPSECTRA LECONTE WITH A NEW RECORD OF THE TEXAS BEETLE (B. FULVA LECONTE; COLEOPTERA: BRACHYPSECTRIDAE) , 1999 .

[44]  D. K. Young.  Beetle Larvae of the World: Interactive Identification and Information Retrieval for Families and Subfamilies , 1996 .

[45]  B. Burakowski.  Development, distribution and habits of Trixagus dermestoides (L.), with notes on the Throscidae and Lissomidae (Coleoptera, Elateroidea) , 1975 .

[46]  R. A. Crowson.  On a new Superfamily Artematopoidea of polyphagan beetles, with the definition of two new fossil genera from the Baltic Amber , 1973 .

[47]  H. Chu.  How to know the immature insects , 1949 .

[48]  Adam F. C. Craighead Boving.  An illustrated synopsis of the principal larval forms of the order Coleoptera , 1931 .

[49]  G. F. Ferris.  NOTES ON AN ENTOMOLOGICAL ENIGMA , 1927, The Canadian Entomologist.