Bolboceratidae
Bolbelasmus Bocchus
Bolboceratidae is a family of beetles within the Scarabaeoidea. The family was granted in 1996 by Scholtz & Browne family rank.
- 4.1 Notes and references
- 4.2 Literature
Features
Beetle
The beetles have a body length of 5 to 40 millimeters. Your body is oval or round and strongly convex. It is usually yellowish - brown, in some species but colored yellow and black. The head is not bent sharply downward. The compound eyes are partially or completely separated by a canthus. The nasopharynx is rounded and notched at the mesial Bolboceratinae at the apical edge, at the Athyreinae straight. The eleven-membered sensors report a dreisegmentige club. The palps are four members. The wings have a characteristic Flügeladerung and Verbindungssklerite with the family. At the tarsi a Empodium is formed. The location of the Tracheenöffnungen on the abdomen is different. They are formed on the first to seventh abdominal segment. The first or the first two are on the sternite, and the remaining in the pleural membrane. The male genitalia are formed differently and have a well-developed genital capsule and a membranous Medianlobus. In the females lack the styli are six ovarioles per ovary formed.
The monophyly of the family is due to several characteristics of the wing base and the wing veins and the following autapomorphies: The Tracheenöffnungen on the abdomen of the adult bees are different in size, the animals feed on fungi and collect food for their larvae. In the larvae the sixth to tenth abdominal segment is narrowed considerably backwards, they lack sensor markedly developed, sclerotized, they have a symmetrical hypopharynx and the tenth segment is not flattened.
Larvae
The larvae of the subfamily Athyreinae are unknown. The Bolboceratinae they have a wide "C "-shaped bodies in which the thoracic segments and the first six abdominal segments are split at the back in two folds. Ocelli absent. The sensors are tripartite and have no great sense stain. The mandibles are asymmetrical, have on the ventral side of an extension and there is no Stridulationsbereich. Galea and lacinia are clearly separated. The middle and rear legs are formed to the sound-generating organs in some species. The hind legs are not, or only slightly shortened. The Tracheenöffnungen are sieve-like ( cribriform ).
Dissemination and lifestyle
The types of Athyreinae are widespread in the Neotropical and Afrotropical. However, the main area of distribution of the family are dry and sandy habitats. In Australia, 10 species occur on the subfamily Bolboceratinae, southern Africa there are 9, 12 in the New World.
Very little is known about the habits of most species. The adults are mainly nocturnal and are attracted by artificial light sources. However, there are also types such as some of the genus Bolbocaffer which are active during the day. Of the known species, we know that they enter humus for their larvae in burrows. From species of the genus Bolboceras one has found all stages of development simultaneously in each case the same construction. These burrows can reach a depth of up to three meters in some species.
Taxonomy and systematics
The family includes two subfamilies, with about 40 genera and 350 species, the subfamily Athyreinae with only four genera and about 70 species is significantly smaller than the subfamily Bolboceratinae.