Lymexylidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Coleopterida
Ordo: Coleoptera
Subordo: Polyphaga
Infraordo: Cucujiformia
Superfamilia: Lymexyloidea

Familia: Lymexylidae
Subfamiliae: Atractocerinae - Hylecoetinae - Lymexylinae - Melittommatinae
Overview of genera (10)

Atractocerus – Australymexylon – Elateroides – Lymexylon – Melittomma – Melittommopsis – Protomelittomma – Urtea – †Cratoatractocerus – †Ponomarenkylon

Lymexylidae Fleming, 1821
Synonyms

Lymexylonidae

References

Kirejtshuk, A.G. 2008: A new genus and species of timber beetle (Coleoptera: Lymexylidae) from the Baltic amber. Paleontological journal, 42: 63–65. PDF PDF
Kurosawa, Y. 1985: Revisional notes on the family Lymexylonidae (Coleoptera) in eastern and southeastern Asia. Bulletin of the National Science Museum (A), 11: 109–119.
Lawrence, J.F. 2010: 8. Lymexloidae[sic!] Fleming, 1821. Pp. 229-235 in: Leschen, R.A.B.; Beutel, R.G.; Lawrence, J.F. (volume eds.) Coleoptera, beetles. Volume 2: Morphology and systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim). In: Kristensen, N.P. & Beutel, R.G. (eds.) Handbook of zoology. A natural history of the phyla of the animal kingdom. Volume IV. Arthropoda: Insecta. Part 38. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110190753 ISBN 9783110190755
I.Löbl & A.Smetana (eds). 2007 Catalogue of Palearctic Coleoptera. Vol. 4: Elateroidea, Derodontoidea, Bostrichoidea, Lymexyloidea, Cleroidea and Cucujoidea. Apollo Books, Stenstrup, Denmark ISBN 87-88757-67-6, p. 362
Nardi, G. 2019. Synonymic notes on European Lymexylidae (Coleoptera). Zootaxa 4450(4): 597–599. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4450.4.11 Paywall Reference page.
Paulus, H.F. 2004: Urtea graeca nov. gen. et nov. spec., der erste Vertreter der tropischen Atractocerinae in Europa, sowie eine Beschreibung von Hymaloxylon aspoecki nov. spec. aus Yunnan (China) (Coleoptera, Cucujiformia, Lymexylidae, Atractocerinae nov. status) [Urtea graeca nov. gen. et nov. spec., the first European representative of the tropical Atractocerinae, as well as a description of Hymaloxylon aspoecki nov. spec. from China (Coleoptera, Cucujiformia, Lymexylidae, Atractocerinae nov. status).] Denisia, 13: 277–290. page scans
Wheeler, Q.D. 1986: Revision of the genera of Lymexylidae (Coleoptera, Cucujiformia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 183: 113–210. Abstract PDF
Wolf-Schwenninger, K. 2011: The oldest fossil record of Lymexylidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. Insect systematics & evolution, 42(2): 205–212. DOI: 10.1163/187631211X578352

Links

Atlas of beetles of the family Lymexylidae of Russia and adjacent countries
Tree of Life Web Project. 1995. Lymexyloidea. Lymexylidae. Ship-timber beetles. Version 01 January 1995 (temporary) in The Tree of Life Web Project
Lymexylidae in SYNOPSIS OF THE DESCRIBED COLEOPTERA OF THE WORLD

Vernacular names
dansk: Værftbiller
Deutsch: Werftkäfer
English: Ship-timber Beetles
日本語: ツツシンクイ科
한국어: 통나무좀과
русский: Сверлилы
中文: 筒蠹蟲科

The Lymexylidae (historically often spelled Lymexylonidae), also known as ship-timber beetles, are a family of wood-boring beetles. Lymexylidae belong to the suborder Polyphaga and are the sole member of the superfamily Lymexyloidea.

Habitat and behavior
Example of an infested tree

Lymexylon, Elateroides, and Melittomma are pests to forest trees such as chestnut, poplar, and oak, and can be found worldwide. Some species are parasitic, causing decay in living trees and damaging timber structures such as houses and ships. Wood boring activities occur primarily in the larva stage, with the larvae damaging both sapwood and heartwood. Lymexylidae larvae bore into living and decaying wood (e.g. Chestnut, Populus, and Oak) where they consume the fungus Endomyces hylecoeti.[1]
Symbiotic relationship with fungi

Lymexylidae larvae have a symbiotic association with certain types of fungi. The fungi grow in sheltered environments where they are tended by the larvae, such as the holes burrowed into the wood and, in return, the larvae feed on the fungi.[2]
Elateroides dermestoides lays eggs into boreholes of bark beetles on a fallen beech

Specifically, this species has evolved a relationship with the yeast-like fungus Endomyces hylecoeti. Every egg the female lays is coated with fungal spores from a pouch near her ovipositor. The larvae hatch and subsequently collect some of the spores by remaining close to the egg shells for a period of time, before tunneling further into the wood. The fungi grow on the tunnel walls created by the larvae. The larvae then consume the fungus, rather than the wood itself. As the fungi require air flow to grow, the larvae ensure the tunnels are free of any debris.[3]
Species and Genera

Lymexylidae contain the following genera:[4]

Atractocerus Palisot de Beauvois, 1801
Australymexylon Wheeler, 1986
Elateroides Schaeffer, 1766
Lymexylon Fabricius, 1775
Melittomma Murray, 1867
Melittommopsis Lane, 1955
Protomelittomma Wheeler, 1986
Urtea Paulus, 2004
†Adamas Chen & Zhang, 2020 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
†Cratoatractocerus Wolf-Schwenninger 2011 Crato Formation, Brazil, Early Cretaceous (Aptian)
†Cretoquadratus Chen 2019 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
†Ponomarenkylon Kirejtshuk 2008 Baltic amber, Eocene
†Vetatractocerus Yamamoto 2019 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian

There are over 60 species in these genera, including:

The ship timber beetle, Lymexylon navale
Two species are located in Eastern US and Canada: the sapwood timberworm Elateroides lugubris (Say) and the chestnut timberworm, Melittomma sericeum

Morphology

Adult morphology:

5–40 mm (0.20–1.6 in) long; elongate to slender, parallel-sided, vestiture consisting of fine setae; conspicuously necked to not necked; somewhat waisted.
Head short, typically narrowed behind large protruding eyes forming a slight neck; surface punctate, with or without epicranial pit.
Antennae short 11-segmented, filiform/serrate and often sexually dimorphic.
Maxillary palpi 4-segmented, simple in most females, and with apical segment modified into a complex flabellate or plumose organ in males-palporgan.
Tarsi 5-5-5 with legs slender, moderately long.
Hind-leg coxae extending laterally to meet the elytra (Lymexylon), or not markedly extended laterally (Elateroides).
Elytra individually tapered to their apices to not individually tapered; fairly short, exposing several terminal abdominal 1-3 tergites; all articulated and moveable.
Wings with fairly complete venation, radial cell short or absent.

Immature Morphology:

Whitish-yellow, elongate, thin, cylindrical with short but well developed legs.
Prognathous, stemmata absent or present may have eye spots.
Abdominal modifications found in older larvae.

Classification

The superfamily Lymexyloidea is currently within series Cucujoidea. The internal phylogeny has not been clearly understood/completed by experts. Morphological data places the family inside the Tenebrionoidea, while molecular data place it as sister taxon to Tenebrionoidea, and polyphyletic.
See also

Forest pathology

Notes

Caroline S. Chaboo (2015), "Beetles (Coleoptera) of Peru: A Survey of the Families. Lymexylidae Fleming, 1821", Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 88 (2): 258–259, doi:10.2317/kent-88-02-258-259.1
Casari, Sônia A.; Teixeira, Édson Possidônio (2011). "Larva of Atractocerus brasiliensis (Lepeletier & Audinet-Serville, 1825) (Lymexylidae, Atractocerinae)". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (São Paulo). 51 (12): 197–205. doi:10.1590/S0031-10492011001200001. ISSN 0031-1049.
Ross Piper (2007). Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals. Greenwood Press.

Lymexylidae Species List at Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog. Texas A&M University. Retrieved on 17 May 2012.

References

Arnett, Ross H., et al., eds. American Beetles: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. Vol. 2. CRC Press, 2002: 261-262. EBSCO printed on Sept. 21,2013.
Casari, S.A. and Albertoni, F.F., (2013). First Instar Larva of Atractocerus brasiliensis (Lepeletier & Audinet-Serville, 1825) (Lymexylidae, Atractocerinae). Volume 53(27): 359‑372.
Kundrata, R., Bocakova, M., & Bocak, L. (2014). The comprehensive phylogeny of the superfamily Elateroidea (Coleoptera: Elateriformia). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 76, 162-171.
Triplehorn, Charles A., Norman F. Johnson, and Donald J. Borror. Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects. Belmont, CA: Thompson Brooks/Cole, 2005.
Wheeler, Q. D. (1986). Revision of the genera of Lymexylidae (Coleoptera: Cucujiformia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 183:113-210.