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Rhinorhipus
Specimen of Rhinorhipus with closeup of the head (right)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Infraorder:	Elateriformia
Superfamily:	Rhinorhipoidea
Family:	Rhinorhipidae
Genus:	Rhinorhipus Lawrence, 1988
Species:	R. tamborinensis
Binomial name
Rhinorhipus tamborinensis Lawrence, 1988

Rhinorhipus is a genus of beetles that contains a single species, Rhinorhipus tamborinensis from southern Queensland, Australia. It is the sole member of the family Rhinorhipidae and superfamily Rhinorhipoidea. It is an isolated lineage not closely related to any other living beetle, estimated to have split from other beetles at least 200 million years ago, with studies either considering them the earliest diverging member of Elateriformia, or a basal lineage within Polyphaga. They exhibit feigning death (thanatosis) when disturbed. Their ecology is poorly known. It is likely that they are fossorial based on their morphology.

References

1. Lawrence, JF (1988). "Rhinorhipidae, a new beetle family from Australia, with comments on the phylogeny of the elateriformia". Invertebrate Systematics. 2: 1. doi:10.1071/IT9880001.
2. Kusy, Dominik; Motyka, Michal; Andujar, Carmelo; Bocek, Matej; Masek, Michal; Sklenarova, Katerina; Kokas, Filip; Bocakova, Milada; Vogler, Alfried P.; Bocak, Ladislav (2018-05-02). "Genome sequencing of Rhinorhipus Lawrence exposes an early branch of the Coleoptera". Frontiers in Zoology. 15 (1): 21. doi:10.1186/s12983-018-0262-0. ISSN 1742-9994. PMC 5930637. PMID 29743928.
3. Cai, Chenyang; Tihelka, Erik; Giacomelli, Mattia; Lawrence, John F.; Ślipiński, Adam; Kundrata, Robin; Yamamoto, Shûhei; Thayer, Margaret K.; Newton, Alfred F.; Leschen, Richard A. B.; Gimmel, Matthew L.; Lü, Liang; Engel, Michael S.; Bouchard, Patrice; Huang, Diying (March 2022). "Integrated phylogenomics and fossil data illuminate the evolution of beetles". Royal Society Open Science. 9 (3): 211771. doi:10.1098/rsos.211771. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 8941382. PMID 35345430.
4. Lawrence, John F.. "4.1. Rhinorhipidae Lawrence, 1988". Volume 2 Morphology and Systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim), edited by Willy Kükenthal, Richard A.B. Leschen, Rolf G. Beutel and John F. Lawrence, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 2011, pp. 38-42.

• Monotypic Elateriformia genera