Subfamily Thylacosterninae


Compiler and date details

31 December 1996 - Andrew A. Calder, CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Introduction

The Thylacosterninae (previously referred to as Balginae) is represented in Australia by a single species of Cussolenis Fleutiaux (CALDER 1998). It is a cylindrical, shiny black beetle restricted to the rainforests of north Queensland (Calder 1996). However the genus and its eight species is widespread throughout the Indo-Malayan Archipelago extending as far west as Bengal as well as being recorded from Congo and Togo in Africa. They range in size from 8 to 14 mm in length.

This subfamily which also includes Balgus Fleutiaux, Pterotarsus Guérin-Méneville (= Lissothyreus Bonvouloir) and Thylacosternus Bonvouloir was originally included in the Eucnemidae (Schenkling 1928), but Crowson (1951, 1961) and Muona (1996) consider it to constitute a subfamily of Throscidae. Van Emden (1932) and Gardner (1936) on the basis of larvae, as does this author, consider that it is properly a subfamily of Elateridae.

The biology of the Australian species is not known with certainty. However, Cussolenis mutabilis (Bonvouloir) from Bengal was found in decaying logs that were being attacked by eucnemids (Gardner 1936).

 

General References

Calder, A.A. 1996. Click Beetles. Genera of Australian Elateridae (Coleoptera). Monographs on Invertebrate Taxonomy 2: i-x 1-401

Calder, A.A. 1998. Coleoptera: Elateroidea. In Wells, A. (ed.) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 29.6. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia. xiii 248 pp.

Crowson, R.A. 1951. The classification of the families of British Coleoptera [part]. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 87: 117-128

Crowson, R.A. 1961. On some new characters of classificatory importance in adults of Elateridae (Coleoptera). Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 96: 158-161

Emden, F.I. van 1932. Die Larven der Callirhipini, eine mutmassliche Cerophytum-Larve und Familien-Bestimmungstabelle der Larven der Malacodermata-Sternoxia Reihe (Coleoptera). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 72: 199-260 pls xi-xii

Gardner, J.C.M. 1936. A larva of the subfamily Balginae (Col., Elateridae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London B 5: 3-5

Muona, J. 1996. The phylogeny of Elateroidea (Coleoptera), or which tree is best today? Cladistics 11(4): 317-341 [Date published Nov. 10, 1996]

Schenkling, S. 1928. Melasidae. pp. 1-110 in Schenkling, S. (ed.). Coleopterorum Catalogus auspiciis et auxilio W. Junk. Berlin : W. Junk Vol. 96.

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
12-Feb-2010 (import)

Genus Cussolenis Fleutiaux, 1918

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

 

Distribution

States

Queensland


Note that conversion of the original AFD map of states, drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones to IBRA and IMCRA regions may have produced errors. The new maps will be reviewed and corrected as updates occur. The maps may not indicate the entire distribution. See further details below.

IBRA

Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Afrotropical Region

Australian Region

Oriental Region

Distribution References

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
12-Feb-2010 (import)
Note: the generation of this complete preview for Thylacosterninae was cancelled at Cussolenis Fleutiaux, 1918 owing to the initation of another complete preview for CALVETIIDAE Borg, 1944. Only one complete preview may be executed at a time. Previews were generated for 2 of 3 taxa.