Family MEGALOPODIDAE

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Family MEGALOPODIDAE

Introduction

The family Megalopodidae is relatively small, with three subfamilies and approximately 27 genera and 400 species worldwide (Monrós 1960; Seeno & Wilcox 1982; Kuschel & May 1996). Two subfamilies occur in Australia: Zeugophorinae with three out of 70 world species (Reid 1989) and Palophaginae with three of four world species (Kuschel & May 1990). In Australia, Megalopodidae are confined to rainforest, in the east.
The family Megalopodidae has had a complex taxonomic history. Traditionally, it was considered to be a single subfamily in the Chrysomelidae, named Megalopodinae (often misspelled Megalopinae). With recognition of Zeugophorinae (Boving & Craighead 1931) for a group of small species with leaf-mining larvae the group was split. Several authors noted the similarity of the above subfamilies with Cerambycoidea. Recognition as a separate family was proposed by Kuschel & May (1990), who erected a third subfamily, Palophaginae. Systematic analysis has confirmed the distant relationship between Chrysomelidae and Megalopodidae (Reid 1995). The largest subfamily, Megalopodinae, is absent from Australia.

Zeugophorinae adults are small, cryptic and rarely collected. The only known host in Australia is a vine, Celastrus (Reid 1998). Larvae are leaf-miners, with typical leaf-mining morphology: white, flattened and legless (Lee 1998). Pupation is in soil (Cox 1996).

Palophaginae adults are delicate dull brown cerambycid-like beetles, and also rare. The larvae feed on pollen within the male cones of Araucariaceae and pupate in soil (Kuschel & May 1990). Half of the known adult specimens have been reared from cones, the other half collected at light.