Micromalthidae

Micromalthidae is an ancient family of small beetles belonging to the suborder Archostemata. The only known living representative is the telephone-pole beetle, Micromalthus debilis. A few extinct species have been described,^[3] the oldest being the Late Permian Archaeomalthus synoriacos.^[1] It is one of the oldest families of beetles still existing today.^[3]

Micromalthidae Temporal range: Late Permian–Present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
"Ghost adult" stage of Micromalthus debilis
Larval stage of Micromalthus debilis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Archostemata
Family:	Micromalthidae Barber, 1913
Genera
†Archaeomalthus Yan et al., 2019[1] †Cretomalthus Kirejtshuk & Azar, 2008[2] Micromalthus LeConte, 1878 †Protomalthus Tihelka, Huang, Cai, 2020[3]

Micromalthus debilis is remarkable for its paedogenetic reproductive strategy which is almost unique in the animal kingdom, with the partial exception of Loricifera,^[4] and that could have already evolved in prehistoric Micromalthidae.^[2][1]

References

1. Yan, Evgeny Viktorovich; Beutel, Rolf Georg; Lawrence, John Francis; Yavorskaya, Margarita Igorevna; Hörnschemeyer, Thomas; Pohl, Hans; Vassilenko, Dmitry Vladimirovich; Bashkuev, Alexey Semenovich; Ponomarenko, Alexander Georgievich (2020). "Archaeomalthus -(Coleoptera, Archostemata) a 'ghost adult' of Micromalthidae from Upper Permian deposits of Siberia?". Historical Biology. 32 (8): 1019–1027. Bibcode:2020HBio...32.1019Y. doi:10.1080/08912963.2018.1561672.
2. Kirejtshuk, Alexander G.; Azar, Dany (2008). "New taxa of beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Lebanese amber with evolutionary and systematic comments" (PDF). Alavesia. 2: 15-46. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
3. Tihelka, Erik; Huang, Diying; Cai, Chenyang (2020). "A new genus and species of Micromalthidae from Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Archostemata)". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 111 (1): 39–46. Bibcode:2020EESTR.111...39T. doi:10.1017/S1755691019000185.
4. Normark, Benjamin B. (2013). "Micromalthus debilis". Current Biology. 23 (10): R430–R431. Bibcode:2013CBio...23.R430N. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.045. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 23701680.