Murmidiidae, Jacquelin du Val, 1858

Jałoszyński, Paweł & Ślipiński, Adam, 2022, Revision of the family Murmidiidae (Coleoptera: Coccinelloidea), Zootaxa 5109 (1), pp. 1-102 : 7

Family Murmidiidae

Murmidiides Jaquelin du Val, 1857: 227.

Murmidiidae : LeConte, 1861: 78; Böving & Craighead, 1931: 38.

Mychocerinae Sharp, 1895: 494. Invalid, based on misidentified type genus Mychocerus sensu Leconte, 1869.

Diagnosis. BL 1.0– 1.7 mm; usually broadly oval but sometimes elongate and parallel-sided to almost circular; dorsum flat to strongly convex, glabrous to distinctly setose. Head deeply retracted into prothorax, with distinct frontoclypeal groove (= ‘suture’) and vertexal ridge. Antenna short, 8–10-segmented; club always 1-segmented and usually cylindrical, rarely flattened; antennal foramen not visible dorsally, but antennal scape fully exposed. Terminal maxillary and labial palpomeres non-aciculate, narrower than penultimate segments and gradually tapering to rounded apex. Prothorax transverse, with dorsal or ventral antennal cavities in anterior corners; lateral carina complete and smooth; prosternum in front of procoxae several times as long as procoxal longitudinal diameter, forming broad plate protecting head in repose; prosternal process variable but broad, not extending beyond procoxae; procoxal cavities externally and internally open. Elytron smooth, with irregular punctures or rarely with variously distinct rows of punctures. Mesocoxae very broadly separated; their cavities open to mesepimeron. Metaventral and abdominal postcoxal lines arcuate; tarsal formula 4-4-4, tarsomeres simple; empodium absent, tarsal claws simple, weakly curved and subequal in length to 1/3 of terminal tarsomere. Abdomen with 5 freely articulated ventrites, terminal ventrite crenulate. Aedeagus short; penis tubular, tegmen sheath-like, usually without distinct parameres, rarely with articulated parameres. Female terminalia with large, elongate and subtriangular gonocoxites, lacking gonostyli ( Fig. 193 ).

Remarks. Among the families of Coccinelloidea and the remaining Coleoptera , Murmidiidae form a very distinctive group due to the peculiar 8–10 segmented antennae with a large 1-segmented club received in the anterior rather than entirely ventral orientation by prothoracic cavities, combined with simple 4-segmented tarsi, the crenulate posterior edge of the terminal abdominal ventrite, and slender but not aciculate terminal maxillary and labial palpomeres.

Composition and distribution. Worldwide, but mostly in subtropical and tropical regions; the family currently includes thirty-four extant species classified in four genera.

Figures

FIGURES 191–197. Morphological structures of Murmidius hebrus Hinton. Body in dorsal (191–192), ventral (193) and lateral (194) views; pterothorax in ventral view (195); and aedeagus (196–197).