Sikhotealinia | |
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Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Coleoptera |
Family: | Jurodidae |
Genus: |
Sikhotealinia Lafer, 1996 |
Species: | S. zhiltzovae
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Binomial name | |
Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae Lafer, 1996
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Sikhotealinia is a genus of beetle containing a single species, Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae, which is the only living representative of the family Jurodidae. It was discovered in the Sikhote-Alin mountains in Russian Manchuria. This " living fossil" is unique in having three ocelli on its forehead, a condition otherwise unknown in the entire order Coleoptera, whether extinct or living - though it is common in other orders, and generally considered a groundplan character for neopteran insects. Sikhotealinia and its extinct relative Jurodes are considered as a sister group to all other archostematan beetles. [1]