TheLymexylidae (historically often spelledLymexylonidae), also known asship-timber beetles, are afamily ofwood-boring beetles. Lymexylidae belong to the suborderPolyphaga and are the sole member of the superfamilyLymexyloidea.
Lymexylon,Elateroides, andMelittomma are pests to forest trees such aschestnut,poplar, andoak, and can be found worldwide. Some species are parasitic, causing decay in living trees and damaging timber structures such as houses and ships. Wood boring activities occur primarily in the larva stage, with the larvae damaging both sapwood and heartwood. Lymexylidaelarvae bore into living and decaying wood where they consume the fungusAlloascoidea hylecoeti.[1][2]
Lymexylidae larvae have a symbiotic association with certain types of fungi. The fungi grow in sheltered environments where they are tended by the larvae, such as the holes burrowed into the wood and, in return, the larvae feed on the fungi.[3]
Elateroides dermestoides lays eggs into boreholes of bark beetles on a fallen beech
Specifically, this species has evolved a relationship with the yeast-like fungusEndomyces hylecoeti. Every egg the female lays is coated with fungal spores from a pouch near her ovipositor. The larvae hatch and subsequently collect some of the spores by remaining close to the egg shells for a period of time, before tunneling further into the wood. The fungi grow on the tunnel walls created by the larvae. The larvae then consume the fungus, rather than the wood itself. As the fungi require air flow to grow, the larvae ensure the tunnels are free of any debris.[4]
5–40 mm (0.20–1.6 in) long; elongate to slender, parallel-sided, vestiture consisting of fine setae; conspicuously necked to not necked; somewhat waisted.
Head short, typically narrowed behind large protruding eyes forming a slight neck; surface punctate, with or without epicranial pit.
Antennae short 11-segmented, filiform/serrate and often sexually dimorphic.
Maxillary palpi 4-segmented, simple in most females, and with apical segment modified into a complex flabellate or plumose organ in males-palporgan.
Tarsi 5-5-5 with legs slender, moderately long.
Hind-leg coxae extending laterally to meet the elytra (Lymexylon), or not markedly extended laterally (Elateroides).
Elytra individually tapered to their apices to not individually tapered; fairly short, exposing several terminal abdominal 1-3 tergites; all articulated and moveable.
Wings with fairly complete venation, radial cell short or absent.
Immature Morphology:
Whitish-yellow, elongate, thin, cylindrical with short but well developed legs.
Prognathous, stemmata absent or present may have eye spots.
The superfamily Lymexyloidea is currently withinseries Cucujiformia. The internal phylogeny has not been clearly understood/completed by experts. Morphological data places the family inside the Tenebrionoidea, while molecular data place it assister taxon to Tenebrionoidea, and polyphyletic.
^Cletus P. Kurtzman, Christie J. Robnett (2013)Alloascoidea hylecoeti gen. nov., comb. nov.,Alloascoidea africana comb. nov.,Ascoidea tarda sp. nov., andNadsonia starkeyi-henricii comb. nov., new members of the Saccharomycotina (Ascomycota).FEMS Yeast Research 13: 423–432. doi: 10.1111/1567-1364.12044
^Caroline S. Chaboo (2015), "Beetles (Coleoptera) of Peru: A Survey of the Families. Lymexylidae Fleming, 1821",Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society,88 (2):258–259,doi:10.2317/kent-88-02-258-259.1
Arnett, Ross H., et al., eds. American Beetles: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. Vol. 2. CRC Press, 2002: 261–262. EBSCO printed on Sept. 21,2013.
Casari, S.A. and Albertoni, F.F., (2013). First Instar Larva ofAtractocerus brasiliensis (Lepeletier & Audinet-Serville, 1825) (Lymexylidae, Atractocerinae). Volume 53(27): 359‑372.
Kundrata, R., Bocakova, M., & Bocak, L. (2014). The comprehensive phylogeny of the superfamily Elateroidea (Coleoptera: Elateriformia). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 76, 162–171.
Triplehorn, Charles A., Norman F. Johnson, and Donald J. Borror. Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects. Belmont, CA: Thompson Brooks/Cole, 2005.
Wheeler, Q. D. (1986). Revision of the genera of Lymexylidae (Coleoptera: Cucujiformia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 183:113-210.
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