Chrysomelidae

The beetle family Chrysomelidae, commonly known as leaf beetles, includes over 37,000 species in more than 2,500 genera, making it one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle families. Numerous subfamilies are recognized, but the specifics of leaf beetle taxonomy and systematics are likely to change with ongoing research.

Chrysomelidae

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Also called
leaf beetlePBDB
Sits inside
ChrysomeloideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 244 million years on record.

The record covers at least 244.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 245.19 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 770 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 770 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1 of 770 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 2 of 770 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 770 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 1 of 770 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 6 of 770 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 3 of 770 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 9 of 770 occurrencesEocene — about 203 of 770 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 54 of 770 occurrencesMiocene — about 67 of 770 occurrencesPliocene — about 25 of 770 occurrencesPleistocene — about 393 of 770 occurrences250–242 Mya — about 1 occurrence208–200 Mya — about 2 occurrences200–192 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences158–150 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences150–142 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences133–125 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences125–117 Mya — about 5 occurrences117–108 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences108–100 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences100–92 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences92–83 Mya — about 1 occurrence83–75 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences75–67 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences67–58 Mya — about 8 occurrences58–50 Mya — about 11 occurrences50–42 Mya — about 66 occurrences42–33 Mya — about 129 occurrences33–25 Mya — about 37 occurrences25–17 Mya — about 39 occurrences17–8.3 Mya — about 36 occurrences8.3–0 Mya — about 430 occurrences244.4 Mya11.7 ka250 Mya0 Mya

770 occurrences of Chrysomelidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

770 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

66 formations

Florissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WUonuma — 37.29°N, 138.69°EUonuma — 37.24°N, 138.66°EUonuma — 37.23°N, 138.63°EUonuma — 37.13°N, 138.78°EHighbury Silts and Sands — 51.56°N, 0.06°WTsubusagawa — 33.40°N, 131.35°EUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EKap København — 82.47°N, 23.66°WKap København — 82.45°N, 24.10°WKap København — 82.32°N, 23.85°WKap København — 82.35°N, 24.05°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EMizozono — 31.98°N, 130.74°EEifel — 50.11°N, 6.82°EOlympia beds — 47.66°N, 122.43°WSaijo — 34.38°N, 132.72°EBushi — 35.84°N, 139.35°EBushi — 35.85°N, 139.38°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°EEdoma — 69.50°N, 158.50°ETsumori — 32.79°N, 130.86°EKeremesit — 69.50°N, 158.50°EKeremesit — 69.17°N, 158.12°EHirabaru — 33.40°N, 131.64°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WSalt — 47.69°N, 7.53°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°ENogami — 33.21°N, 131.15°EOler — 69.50°N, 158.50°EOyama — 33.25°N, 130.96°EOyama — 33.25°N, 130.97°EGreen River — 39.00°N, 108.00°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 39.60°N, 108.75°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Chrysomelidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 42 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 318 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chrysomelidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Chrysomelidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

5,654 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 302 sites for Chrysomelidae, 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

163 references

Each of the 770 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. 151 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 Chrysomelidae

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Latreille 1802