Archostemata

The Archostemata are the smallest suborder of beetles, consisting of 50 living species in five families and over 200 described fossil species. They are an ancient lineage with a number of primitive characteristics. Antennae may be thread-shaped (filiform) or like a string of beads (moniliform). This suborder also contains the only beetles where both sexes are paedogenic, Micromalthus debilis. Modern archostematan beetles are considered rare, but were more diverse during the Mesozoic.

Archostemata

me · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MetacoleopteraPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 289 million years on record.

The record covers at least 293.52 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 731 occurrencesPermian — about 87 of 731 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 11 of 731 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 70 of 731 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 57 of 731 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 46 of 731 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 29 of 731 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 105 of 731 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 196 of 731 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 59 of 731 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 22 of 731 occurrencesEocene — about 39 of 731 occurrencesOligocene — about 1 of 731 occurrencesMiocene — about 8 of 731 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 731 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 731 occurrences305–295 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences295–285 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences285–274 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences274–264 Mya — about 22 occurrences264–254 Mya — about 47 occurrences254–244 Mya — about 31 occurrences244–234 Mya — about 76 occurrences234–224 Mya — about 22 occurrences224–213 Mya — about 8 occurrences213–203 Mya — about 14 occurrences203–193 Mya — about 33 occurrences193–183 Mya — about 8 occurrences183–173 Mya — about 11 occurrences173–163 Mya — about 24 occurrences163–152 Mya — about 46 occurrences152–142 Mya — about 64 occurrences142–132 Mya — about 11 occurrences132–122 Mya — about 73 occurrences122–112 Mya — about 105 occurrences112–102 Mya — about 6 occurrences102–91 Mya — about 52 occurrences91–81 Mya — about 7 occurrences71–61 Mya — about 6 occurrences61–51 Mya — about 17 occurrences51–41 Mya — about 14 occurrences41–30 Mya — about 24 occurrences30–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–10 Mya — about 7 occurrences10–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence293.52 Mya3.6 Mya305 Mya0 Mya

731 occurrences of Archostemata on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

731 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

119 formations

Madygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EMadygen — 40.03°N, 70.25°EMadygen — 40.00°N, 70.20°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°EDzun-Bain — 45.45°N, 99.13°EDzun-Bain — 44.75°N, 101.75°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.42°N, 118.97°EYixian — 41.83°N, 121.13°EYixian — 41.33°N, 119.13°EYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EMenat — 46.10°N, 2.90°ESolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°EGramoteinskaya — 54.21°N, 86.90°ELos Rastros — 29.75°S, 67.56°WLos Rastros — 29.88°S, 67.77°WLos Rastros — 29.83°S, 67.82°WLos Rastros — 29.08°S, 69.11°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.33°WWeald Clay — 52.72°N, 1.44°WWeald Clay — 51.17°N, 0.30°WSharteg — 44.14°N, 95.78°EBlackstone — 27.62°S, 152.75°EKazankovo-Markinskaya — 53.92°N, 87.25°EKazankovo-Markinskaya — 53.47°N, 87.30°EDzhil — 42.70°N, 77.20°EPoldarsa — 60.61°N, 45.62°ELa Huérguina — 40.06°N, 1.88°WVokhma — 60.10°N, 45.51°EVokhma — 60.60°N, 46.60°EZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°EBakhar — 45.22°N, 99.17°EEifel — 50.11°N, 6.82°ECattamarra Coal Measures — 30.26°S, 115.23°EJiulongshan — 40.91°N, 118.32°EJiulongshan — 40.96°N, 117.61°EJiulongshan — 40.87°N, 118.10°ELushangfen — 39.80°N, 116.08°EVyazniki — 56.22°N, 42.16°E

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The named rock units Archostemata has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 95 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 116 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Archostemata and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Archostemata and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

7,297 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 289 sites for Archostemata, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

185 references

Each of the 731 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 173 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Archostemata

Credit
me
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Archostemata was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMetacoleoptera through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kolbe 1908