Adaptive evolution and functional analysis of the mouthparts in predatory flower chafers (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Cremastocheilini)
Author of the article:LI Sha, BAI Ming, WANG Xinli, YANG Xingke
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Key Words：Cetoniinae, Cremastocheilini, mouthparts, predaceous
Abstract：The tribe Cremastocheilini is the most special group among all 12 tribes in Cetoniinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), which is named in the extremely expand permentum. Cremastocheilini is predaceous. According to the different types of feeding habit and morphological variation, the tribe can be divided into ants-feeding habits and aphids-feeding habits. There are great differences in the morphology of mouthparts between Cremastocheilini species and the herbivorous cetoniins. In this paper, we compared the mouthparts of the beetles from Cremastocheilini, other tribes of Cetoniinae, Rutelinae, Dynastinae and typical carnivorous beetles. The special structure and function of the mouthparts were analyzed, and the survival strategy of the feeding mechanism was discussed preliminarily.