Cucujiformia

Cucujiformia is an infraorder of polyphagan beetles, representing most plant-eating beetles. Genetic studies have shown that the traditional superfamily "Cucujoidea" is not a single natural group, helping scientists better understand how "Cucujiformia" evolved. Rather transcriptomic evidence shows that Cucujiformia likely originated in the Permian, with major superfamily diversification during the Cretaceous time period, in connection with the rise of flowering plants.

Cucujiformia

Photographer: Dominik Stodulski Graphic Processing: User:MathKnight · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PolyphagaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 244 million years on record.

The record covers at least 244.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 245.19 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 5013 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 10 of 5013 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 3 of 5013 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 7 of 5013 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 12 of 5013 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 237 of 5013 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 207 of 5013 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 318 of 5013 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 80 of 5013 occurrencesEocene — about 1741 of 5013 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 310 of 5013 occurrencesMiocene — about 585 of 5013 occurrencesPliocene — about 82 of 5013 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1333 of 5013 occurrences250–242 Mya — about 2 occurrences242–233 Mya — about 8 occurrences233–225 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences225–217 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences217–208 Mya — about 1 occurrence208–200 Mya — about 4 occurrences200–192 Mya — about 3 occurrences192–183 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences183–175 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences175–167 Mya — about 1 occurrence167–158 Mya — about 19 occurrences158–150 Mya — about 189 occurrences150–142 Mya — about 41 occurrences142–133 Mya — about 7 occurrences133–125 Mya — about 18 occurrences125–117 Mya — about 121 occurrences117–108 Mya — about 43 occurrences108–100 Mya — about 34 occurrences100–92 Mya — about 252 occurrences92–83 Mya — about 33 occurrences83–75 Mya — about 4 occurrences75–67 Mya — about 9 occurrences67–58 Mya — about 65 occurrences58–50 Mya — about 113 occurrences50–42 Mya — about 292 occurrences42–33 Mya — about 1360 occurrences33–25 Mya — about 205 occurrences25–17 Mya — about 370 occurrences17–8.3 Mya — about 267 occurrences8.3–0 Mya — about 1547 occurrences244.4 Mya11.7 ka250 Mya0 Mya

5,013 occurrences of Cucujiformia on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

5,013 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

161 formations

Florissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°EHighbury Silts and Sands — 51.56°N, 0.06°WGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.11°WGreen River — 39.60°N, 108.40°WGreen River — 39.00°N, 108.00°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 40.03°N, 109.19°WGreen River — 41.52°N, 109.45°WGreen River — 41.84°N, 110.70°WGreen River — 40.03°N, 109.04°WGreen River — 39.72°N, 108.14°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WGreen River — 39.60°N, 108.75°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EKap København — 82.47°N, 23.66°WKap København — 82.45°N, 24.10°WKap København — 82.32°N, 23.85°WKap København — 82.35°N, 24.05°WRott — 50.59°N, 7.24°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.60°N, 7.25°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°EUonuma — 37.29°N, 138.69°EUonuma — 37.24°N, 138.66°EUonuma — 37.23°N, 138.63°EUonuma — 37.13°N, 138.78°EKeremesit — 69.50°N, 158.50°EKeremesit — 69.17°N, 158.12°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.75°N, 120.80°EYixian — 41.10°N, 119.01°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.32°N, 119.34°EYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EEifel — 50.11°N, 6.82°EEdoma — 69.50°N, 158.50°EMenat — 46.10°N, 2.90°EOler — 69.50°N, 158.50°EArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°EOlympia beds — 47.66°N, 122.43°WTsubusagawa — 33.40°N, 131.35°ESalt — 47.69°N, 7.53°EMessel — 49.93°N, 8.75°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°ETitusville Till — 41.62°N, 79.64°W

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The named rock units Cucujiformia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 137 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 2,482 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cucujiformia and its relatives

Eocene

Where Cucujiformia and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

7,640 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 434 sites for Cucujiformia, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1,011 references

Each of the 5,013 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 999 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Cucujiformia

Credit
Photographer: Dominik Stodulski Graphic Processing: User:MathKnight
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cucujiformia was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPolyphaga through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lameere 1938