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Micromalthidae Temporal range: Late Permian–Present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
"Ghost adult" stage of Micromalthus debilis
Larval stage of Micromalthus debilis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Archostemata
Family:	Micromalthidae Barber, 1913
Genera
†Archaeomalthus Yan et al., 2019 †Cretomalthus Kirejtshuk & Azar, 2008 Micromalthus LeConte, 1878 †Protomalthus Tihelka, Huang, Cai, 2020

Micromalthidae is an ancient family of small beetles belonging to the suborder Archostemata. The only known living representative is the telephone-pole beetle, Micromalthus debilis. A few extinct species have been described, the oldest being the Late Permian Archaeomalthus synoriacos. It is one of the oldest families of beetles still existing today.

Micromalthus debilis is remarkable for its paedogenetic reproductive strategy which is almost unique in the animal kingdom, with the partial exception of Loricifera, and that could have already evolved in prehistoric Micromalthidae.

References

1. ^ Yan, Evgeny Viktorovich; Beutel, Rolf Georg; Lawrence, John Francis; Yavorskaya, Margarita Igorevna; Hörnschemeyer, Thomas; Pohl, Hans; Vassilenko, Dmitry Vladimirovich; Bashkuev, Alexey Semenovich; Ponomarenko, Alexander Georgievich (2020). "Archaeomalthus -(Coleoptera, Archostemata) a 'ghost adult' of Micromalthidae from Upper Permian deposits of Siberia?". Historical Biology. 32 (8): 1019–1027. Bibcode:2020HBio...32.1019Y. doi:10.1080/08912963.2018.1561672.
2. ^ Kirejtshuk, Alexander G.; Azar, Dany (2008). "New taxa of beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Lebanese amber with evolutionary and systematic comments" (PDF). Alavesia. 2: 15-46. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
3. ^ Tihelka, Erik; Huang, Diying; Cai, Chenyang (2020). "A new genus and species of Micromalthidae from Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Archostemata)". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 111 (1): 39–46. Bibcode:2020EESTR.111...39T. doi:10.1017/S1755691019000185.
4. Normark, Benjamin B. (2013). "Micromalthus debilis". Current Biology. 23 (10): R430–R431. Bibcode:2013CBio...23.R430N. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.045. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 23701680.

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