Chrysomeloidea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chrysomeloidea
Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Suborder: Polyphaga Superfamily: Chrysomeloidea Latreille, 1802
Families
Cerambycidae - long-horned beetles Chrysomelidae - leaf beetles Disteniidae Megalopodidae Orsodacnidae Oxypeltidae Vesperidae

Chrysomeloidea is an enormous superfamily of beetles. There are tens of thousands of species, mostly in the families Cerambycidae (the long-horned beetles) and Chrysomelidae, the leaf beetles.

Several species in these two families are important plant pests. The spotted cucumber beetle is a serious pest of vegetables and is a very common insect on all sorts of flowers. The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, attacks potatoes and other members of the Solanaceae. The Asian long-horned beetle is a serious pest of trees where it has been introduced.

Some authorities have suggested removing the Cerambycidae and related families (Disteniidae, Oxypeltidae, and Vesperidae) from Chrysomeloidea to create a separate superfamily "Cerambycoidea" (e.g., ^[1]), but in the absence of evidence to support the monophyly of the resulting groups, this proposal has not yet been accepted by the scientific community.

[edit] References