Caridae

The Caridae are a family within the superfamily Curculionoidea. The small family includes six described species ( and a number of still undescribed, 2007). You live in Australia, New Guinea and South America.

Features

The Caridae belong to the basal families of the superfamily with straight, ungeknieten sensors ( " Orthoceri "). With them the scape ( stem ) is extended, it reaches the anterior margin of the eye. The sensors are located near the trunk base, either on the side or at the bottom of the trunk, the sensor pits are not visible from above. They are quite long with an indistinct, three-to five-membered club. At the head sitting wide-eyed, sitting closer to each other their inner edges than the trunk width. The mandibles at the tip of the snout are outside and inside serrated in the genus Car, in the other only on the inside. The Caridae have two or dreisegmentige Maxillarpalpen. The trunk is usually quite long and narrow, it is not sold over the head contour. The elytra bear distinct stripes and set points and dense hair, this is two-fold and consists of fine -fitting hair and coarse hair standing on end. The abdomen is entirely hidden under the elytra, also the last tergite is covered. As is typical of many weevils, he concludes firmly onto the elytra, as these have formed internally a second edge. The abdominal plates ( sternites ) of the abdomen are all clearly separated with clearly articulated membrane. The first sternite is extended and as long as the second to fourth together. The legs carry unperforated, separate claws, the inside have a broadening of the going on a sensory hair.

The larvae are distinguished, if known, through functioning, zweisegmentige legs, each carrying a claw, while the typical weevil larvae are legless. In addition, they have four or more larvae eyes ( stemmata ).

Way of life

The larvae of Caridae nate inside the (female) dispensers of conifers. The South American species are tied to cypress family ( Cupressaceae ). The Australian species of the genus Car live on jewelry cypress ( Callitris ). In New Guinea stone Yews ( Podocarpaceae ) have been observed as a food plant. The female eats, if known, with his trunk a hole in the still green, unripe dispensing system, in which it then lays its egg. One egg is laid per pin. The larva feeds on the young seeds. In at least one way Car satus conde, a pupation in the soil was observed.

Dissemination

The species- poor family is regarded as a relict group. It is distributed exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, with two widely separated Spreads: Once in Australia and New Guinea, on the other hand, in South America. Such a distribution pattern is associated with an origin on the former southern continent Gondwana.

Systematics and Taxonomy

The genus Car 1897 described by Blackburn from Australia was sorted differently because of their peculiar combination of features of taxonomists. 1992 Thompson hit the first time for them an independent subfamily Carinae before, which was upgraded from Zimmerman Family Caridae. This view has prevailed.

The systematic position of the Caridae is controversial. They are regarded as the sister group of the Brentidae family or, more commonly, the Brentidae and Curculionidae together. One also proposed closer relationship with the family Belidae is now mostly rejected. Another argument, it is as a family in a ( broad ) Family Ithyceridae

In molecular phylogenetic trees, a close relation of Caridae to Brentidae, sometimes even within these revealed.

Fossils

The assignment of fossil species of this family, which is characterized by numerous plesiomorphic features, is extremely problematic. Zherikin and Gratshev have hitherto only known fossil, extinct family Eccoptarthridae equated with the recent Caridae. Since the name Eccoptarthridae is older, he would then priority and also the recent family would then have to bear this name. This name change has been accepted by some taxonomists, rejected by others and has caused considerable confusion. Many taxonomists reject the equation and consider the Caridae and Eccoptarthridae as distinct groups; some regard it as subfamily of Nemonychidae. Equating with the Caridae due mainly to the structure of the tarsi, in which both the first and the third Tarsenglied are extended. Eccoptarthridae have been proven since the late Jurassic.

Swell

• Elwood Curtin Zimmerman (1994 ): Australian Weevils ( Coleoptera: Curculionoidea ) I: Anthribidae to Attelabidae: The Primitive Weevils. CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 0643105603