Cryptocephalinae

Cryptocephalinae
Cryptocephalus nitidus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Family: Chrysomelidae
(unranked): Camptosomata
Subfamily: Cryptocephalinae
Gyllenhaal, 1813
Tribes

Clytrini
Cryptocephalini
Fulcidacini
Mylassini
Pachybrachini

The Cryptocephalinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), and belong to the group of case-bearing leaf beetles called the Camptosomata. The cases are made from the feces of larvae, passed from one instar to the next, and ultimately serves as a pupation chamber.

The tribes Fulcidacini and Clytrini were formerly considered subfamilies of their own, and are presently treated only as tribes. The most recently created tribe Mylassini was erected in 2021 for the monotypic genus Mylassa.

Species in at least 14 genera of Clytrini and Cryptocephalini are myrmecophilous, living with ants. Most species exhibit polyphagy but there are patterns of constraints with certain plant lineages.

References

  1. ↑ Chaboo, C.S., C.G. Brown, & D.J. Funk. 2008. Faecal case architecture in the gibbosus species group of Neochlamisus Karren, 1972 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cryptocephalinae: Chlamisini). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 152:315–335.
  2. ↑ Bouchard, P.; Bousquet, Y.; Davies, A.; Alonso-Zarazaga, M.; Lawrence, J.; Lyal, C.; Newton, A.; Reid, C.; Schmitt, M.; Ślipiński, A.; Smith, A. (2011). "Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta)". ZooKeys (88): 1–972. doi:10.3897/zookeys.88.807. PMC 3088472. PMID 21594053.
  3. ↑ Gómez-Zurita, J.; Cardoso, A. (2021). "Molecular systematics, higher-rank classification and Gondwanan origins of Cryptocephalinae leaf beetles". Zoologica Scripta. 50 (5): 592–615. doi:10.1111/zsc.12501. hdl:10261/250516.
  4. ↑ Agrain F.A., M. Buffington, C.S. Chaboo, M.L. Chamorro, & M.E. Schöller. 2015. Leaf beetles are ant-nest beetles: the curious life histories of the juvenile stages of case-bearers (Chrysomelidae: Cryptocephalinae). ZooKeys 547:133–164.
  5. ↑ Agrain, F.A., B. Vento, V. Flinte, C.A.M. Reid, & C.S. Chaboo. 2024. Global macroecological patterns in host-plant associations of Cryptocephalinae case-bearer leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 20:1-20.https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blae041