Sagrinae
Temporal range:
Sagra buqueti
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Family: Chrysomelidae
Subfamily: Sagrinae
Leach, 1815
Tribes[1]
  • Carpophagini
  • Diaphanopsidini
  • Megamerini
  • Sagrini

The Sagrinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae.

Description

Beetles of this subfamily are also known as "frog-legged beetles" or "kangaroo beetles". They are very distinctive due to their metafemora, or third pair of legs, which are distinctly larger than other femora and generally sport some type of ridge or tooth on the ventral side. It is theorized that the evolutionary function of the large metafemora is to hold the beetle on vegetation for feeding.

These beetles grow to be 1-2 inches in length, and display sexual dimorphism, with the males of the subfamilies being almost twice the size of the females. Males also have significantly larger metafemora than females.

Other identifying features include deep sutural stria, a prognathous head without a median sulcus and with cruciform grooves, a narrow pronotum, and commonly deeply indented eyes. They also have functional wings that aren't used often.

Most beetles of the subfamily display bright colors.[2]

Distribution and Ecology

This subfamily is found in Asia and has been observed in Malaysia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines. It prefers dense tropical jungles for its habitat.[2] There is fossil evidence that suggests these beetles lived in North America and Europe millions of years ago.[3]

Reproduction

There is not much known about reproduction and development in this subfamily, however species in the subfamily often sport large cocoons in the post-larval stage which are commonly found on vining plants.

The cocoons represent a phylogenetic relationship with a type of bacteria called Enterobacteriaceae because the bacteria play a role in the construction of the cocoons. This bacterium also functions as an intracellular symbiont with this subfamily of beetle, and lives in four large blind sacs at the larval foregut. The bacteria provide much needed nutrients throughout the beetle's life cycle.[4]

Genera

References

  1. ↑ Bouchard, Patrice; Bousquet, Yves; Davies, Anthony E.; Alonso-Zarazaga, Miguel A.; Lawrence, John F.; Lyal, Chris H. C.; Newton, Alfred F.; Reid, Chris A. M.; Schmitt, Michael; Ślipiński, S. Adam; Smith, Andrew B. T. (2011). "Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta)". ZooKeys (88): 1–972. doi:10.3897/zookeys.88.807. PMC 3088472. PMID 21594053.
  2. 1 2 Hangay, George; Zborowski, Paul (2010). Guide to the Beetles of Australia. doi:10.1071/9780643100121. ISBN 9780643100121.
  3. ↑ Legalov, Andrei A. (2021-05-12). "First record of the subfamily Sagrinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from the Eocene of North America". Fossil Record. 24 (1): 135–139. doi:10.5194/fr-24-135-2021. ISSN 2193-0074.
  4. ↑ Ossler, Julia N.; Heath, Katy D. (March 2018). "Shared Genes but Not Shared Genetic Variation: Legume Colonization by Two Belowground Symbionts". The American Naturalist. 191 (3): 395–406. doi:10.1086/695829. ISSN 0003-0147. S2CID 90914861.
  5. ↑ Sekerka, L.; Voisin, J.-F. (2014). "Types of Sagrinae in the collection of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)". Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. N.S. 49 (4): 413–429. doi:10.1080/00379271.2014.893681. S2CID 128771971.
  6. ↑ Legalov, A. A.; Kirejtshuk, A. G.; Nel, A. (2019). "The oldest genus of the subfamily Sagrinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from the Paleocene of Menat (France)". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 18 (2): 178–185. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2018.10.003.
  7. ↑ Legalov, A. A. (2021). "First record of the subfamily Sagrinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from the Eocene of North America". Fossil Record. 24 (1): 135–139. doi:10.5194/fr-24-135-2021.
  8. ↑ Krell, F.-T.; Vitali, F. (2021). "Attenborough's beauty: exceptional pattern preservation in a frog-legged leaf beetle from the Eocene Green River Formation, Colorado (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Sagrinae)". Papers in Palaeontology. 7 (4): 2101–2112. doi:10.1002/spp2.1398. S2CID 238854571.


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