Polyphaga

Polyphaga is the largest and most diverse suborder of beetles. It comprises 144 families in 16 superfamilies, and displays an enormous variety of specialization and adaptation, with over 350,000 described species, or approximately 90% of the beetle species discovered thus far.

Polyphaga

Chrumps · 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
MetacoleopteraPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 254 million years on record.

The record covers at least 254.14 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 259.857 Mya to 0 Mya.

Permian — about 1 of 10611 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 10611 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 13 of 10611 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 21 of 10611 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 67 of 10611 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 44 of 10611 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 597 of 10611 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 702 of 10611 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 843 of 10611 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 119 of 10611 occurrencesEocene — about 3184 of 10611 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 486 of 10611 occurrencesMiocene — about 1026 of 10611 occurrencesPliocene — about 140 of 10611 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3241 of 10611 occurrences265–256 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences256–247 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences247–239 Mya — about 10 occurrences239–230 Mya — about 5 occurrences230–221 Mya — about 4 occurrences221–212 Mya — about 5 occurrences212–203 Mya — about 7 occurrences203–194 Mya — about 33 occurrences194–186 Mya — about 5 occurrences186–177 Mya — about 28 occurrences177–168 Mya — about 11 occurrences168–159 Mya — about 60 occurrences159–150 Mya — about 406 occurrences150–141 Mya — about 180 occurrences141–133 Mya — about 13 occurrences133–124 Mya — about 131 occurrences124–115 Mya — about 414 occurrences115–106 Mya — about 103 occurrences106–97 Mya — about 405 occurrences97–88 Mya — about 412 occurrences88–80 Mya — about 33 occurrences80–71 Mya — about 14 occurrences71–62 Mya — about 23 occurrences62–53 Mya — about 159 occurrences53–44 Mya — about 518 occurrences44–35 Mya — about 1644 occurrences35–27 Mya — about 1172 occurrences27–18 Mya — about 628 occurrences18–8.8 Mya — about 596 occurrences8.8–0 Mya — about 3591 occurrences254.14 Mya11.7 ka265 Mya0 Mya

10,611 occurrences of Polyphaga on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

10,611 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

251 formations

Florissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WHighbury Silts and Sands — 51.56°N, 0.06°WKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°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°WKap København — 82.39°N, 24.18°WKap København — 82.47°N, 23.60°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°ETitusville Till — 41.62°N, 79.64°WGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.11°WGreen River — 39.60°N, 108.40°WGreen River — 38.90°N, 109.20°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 — 39.23°N, 108.22°WGreen River — 39.63°N, 108.15°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 — 41.82°N, 110.76°WGreen River — 39.60°N, 108.75°WYixian — 41.16°N, 119.31°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.33°N, 119.13°EYixian — 41.42°N, 118.97°EYixian — 41.75°N, 120.80°EYixian — 41.10°N, 119.01°EYixian — 41.32°N, 119.34°EYixian — 42.74°N, 125.37°EYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EEifel — 50.11°N, 6.82°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.60°N, 7.25°ERott — 50.59°N, 7.24°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EMessel — 49.93°N, 8.75°EOlympia beds — 47.66°N, 122.43°WZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°EZaza — 53.20°N, 112.82°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WKeremesit — 69.50°N, 158.50°EKeremesit — 69.17°N, 158.12°EMenat — 46.10°N, 2.90°EEdoma — 69.50°N, 158.50°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EUonuma — 37.29°N, 138.69°EUonuma — 37.24°N, 138.66°EUonuma — 37.23°N, 138.63°EUonuma — 37.13°N, 138.78°EOler — 69.50°N, 158.50°EQuadra Sand — 49.29°N, 122.88°WQuadra Sand — 49.23°N, 122.78°WArgiles d'lignite du Soissonnais — 49.33°N, 2.66°E

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The named rock units Polyphaga has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 227 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 5,059 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Polyphaga and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Polyphaga and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

7,954 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 390 sites for Polyphaga, 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

1,906 references

Each of the 10,611 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. 1,894 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 Polyphaga

Credit
Chrumps
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Polyphaga was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itMetacoleoptera through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Emery 1886