Sikhotealinia

Sikhotealinia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Jurodidae
Genus: Sikhotealinia
Lafer, 1996
Species:
S. zhiltzovae
Binomial name
Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae
Lafer, 1996

Sikhotealinia is a genus of beetle containing a single species, Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae, which is the only living representative of the family Jurodidae, with the only other extant fossils of the family having been uncovered in Transbaikal. It was discovered in 1996 along the environs of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in Outer Manchuria within Russia's Far East region.[1] This "living fossil" is unique in having three ocelli on its forehead, a condition otherwise unknown in the entire order Coleoptera, whether extinct or living - though it is common in other orders, and generally considered a groundplan character for neopteran insects. Sikhotealinia and its extinct relative Jurodes are considered as a sister group to all other archostematan beetles.[2]

Its uncovering within the Sikhote-Alin has been a rare discovery within the Jurodidae family, which has been commonly called "most mysterious representatives of beetles."[3] However, nothing else has yet been currently established with regards to the original area of distribution, the habitat, the biology and the immature stages of this species.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Gibson, Chris (May 1998). "S. S. Barinova and L. A. Medvedeva. Atlas of the Algal Indicators of Saprobity (Russian Far East). Vladivostok Dal'nauka, 1996". European Journal of Phycology. 33 (2): 185–185. doi:10.1017/s0967026298211656. ISSN 0967-0262.
  2. ^ Yan, Evgeny V.; Wang, Bo; Ponomarenko, Alexander G.; Zhang, Haichun (2014). "The most mysterious beetles: Jurassic Jurodidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) from China" (PDF). Gondwana Research. 25 (1): 214–225. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2013.04.002.
  3. ^ Kirejtshuk, Alexander G.; Ponomarenko, Alexander G.; Prokin, Alexander A.; Huali, Chang; Nikolajev, Georgy V.; Dong, Ren (August 2010). "Current Knowledge of Mesozoic Coleoptera from Daohugou and Liaoning (Northeast China)". Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition. 84 (4): 783–792. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2010.00253.x. ISSN 1000-9515.
  4. ^ Beutel, Rolf G.; Ge, Si‐qin; Hörnschemeyer, Thomas (2007-12-07). "On the head morphology of Tetraphalerus, the phylogeny of Archostemata and the basal branching events in Coleoptera". Cladistics. 24 (3): 270–298. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2007.00186.x. ISSN 0748-3007.

Further reading

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