Biology:Rain beetle
| Rain beetles | |
|---|---|
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| Pleocoma | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Infraorder: | Scarabaeiformia |
| Superfamily: | Scarabaeoidea |
| Family: | Pleocomidae LeConte, 1861 |
| Genera | |
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The rain beetles are a group of beetles whose extant species are found only in the far west of North America.[1] They spend most of their lives underground, emerging in response to rain or snow, thus the common name. Formerly classified in the Scarabaeidae (and later the Geotrupidae), they are currently assigned to their own family Pleocomidae, considered the sister group to all the remaining families of Scarabaeoidea. The family contains a single extant genus, Pleocoma, and two extinct genera, Cretocoma, described in 2002 from Late Cretaceous deposits in Mongolia,[2] and Proteroscarabeus of Late Cretaceous China .[3]
Extant members of Pleocoma are known from extreme southern Washington, throughout the mountains of Oregon and California , and into the extreme north of Baja California.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hovore, Frank T.. "Generic Guide to New World Scarab Beetles". University of Nebraska State Museum - Division of Entomology. http://unsm-ento.unl.edu/Guide/Scarabaeoidea/Pleocomidae/Pleocomidae-Overview/PleocomidaeO.html.
- ↑ Frank-Thorsten Krell. "Catalogue of fossil Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera: Polyphaga) of the Mesozoic and Tertiary" (PDF). Natural History Museum. http://www.unl.edu/museum/research/entomology/fossilrecord-web.pdf.
- ↑ Krell, Frank-Thorsten. "The fossil record of Mesozoic and Tertiary Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera: Polyphaga)." Invertebrate Systematics 14.6 (2000): 871-905.
- Frank T. Hovore (2002). "Pleocomidae". in Ross H. Arnett, Jr.. Volume 2: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. American Beetles. CRC Press. pp. 20–22. ISBN 0-8493-0954-9.
External links
Wikidata ☰ Q311154 entry
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