Belongs within: Tenebrionoidea.
Contains: Ripiphorinae.
The Ripiphoridae are a group of beetles whose larvae are parasitoids of other insects. In members of the subfamily Ripiphorinae and male Ripidiinae, the elytra are more or less reduced and either apically dehiscent and acute or leave the hind wings largely exposed; in female Ripidiinae, both elytra and hind wings are entirely absent (Lawrence & Britton 1991). Hemirhipidiinae have the elytra abbreviated but lack the strong antennal dimorphism of Ripiphorinae (Lawrence & Britton 1991). Ptilophorinae have the elytra entire, and the eyes divided into two lobes connected by a narrow corneous, non-faceted strip. In the Pelecotominae, the eyes are only shallowly emarginate (Falin 2002).
Characters (from Lawrence & Britton 1991): Elongate, often laterally compressed and posteriorly tapered. Body often subglabrous or clothed with decumbent hairs; head may be strongly deflexed and abruptly constricted behind eyes to form neck which may or may not be visible; antenna 7- or 11-segmented, filiform, serrate, pectinate, flabellate or with single-segmented club; eyes slightly to strongly emarginate, sometimes very large; elytra may be entire and slightly dehiscent, exposing abdominal apex, or highly reduced exposing most of abdomen; fore coxae projecting, trochantins exposed or concealed, fore coxal cavities externally open, internally open or closed; mesocoxal cavities contiguous or moderately separated, laterally open; tarsal formula 5-5-4 or 4-4-4; abdomen with five to seven or nine ventrites, no ventrites connate.
<==Ripiphoridae
|--RipidiinaeMW15
| |--Riekella australisLB91
| |--Paranephrites xenusLB91
| |--Pirhidius Besuchet 1957F02
| | `--P. beaumonti Besuchet 1957F02
| |--Eorhipidius [Eorhipidiini]F02
| | `--E. januschevi Iablokov-Khnzorian 1986F02
| |--RhipidioidesLB91
| | |--R. helenaeLB91
| | `--R. rubricatusLB91
| `--Ripidius Thunberg 1806F02
| |--R. pectinicornis Thunberg 1806F02 [incl. Symbios blattarumR13]
| |--R. primordialisP92
| `--R. quadriceps Abeille 1872F02
`--+--RipiphorinaeMW15
`--PelecotominaeMW15
|--Allocinops brookesi Broun 1921F02
|--RhipistenaF02
| |--R. cryptarthra Broun 1904F02
| `--R. lugubris Sharp 1878H82
|--Pelecotoma Fischer 1809F02
| |--P. dufourii [incl. P. frivaldskii]LC40
| |--P. fennica (Paykull 1799)F02 [incl. P. mosquensisLC40]
| |--P. flavipes Melsheimer 1846F02
| `--P. septentrionalis Kôno 1936F02
`--Trigonodera Dejean 1834 (see below for synonymy)F02
|--‘Pelecotoides’ conicollis Laporte de Castelnau 1840LC40 [=Pelecotomoides conicollisM86]
|--‘Pelecotomoides’ gerstackeri Macleay 1872M86
|--‘Pelecotoides’ gigantea Laporte de Castelnau 1840LC40
|--‘Pelecotoides’ heliaLC40
|--‘Pelecotoides’ latreilleiLC40
|--‘Pelecotoides’ leachiiLC40
|--T. lutea Gerstäck 1855 [=Pelecotomoides lutea]M86
|--‘Pelecotoides’ maculata Laporte de Castelnau 1840LC40
|--T. marmorataLB91 [=Pelecotomoides marmorataB70]
|--‘Pelecotomoides’ mastersi Macleay 1872M86
|--T. nuda Gerstäck 1855 [=Pelecotomoides nuda]M86
|--T. schaefferi Rivnay 1929F02
|--T. senilis Gerstäck 1855 [=Pelecotomoides senilis]M86
|--T. sericea Gerstäck 1855 [=Pelecotomoides sericea]M86
`--‘Pelecotoides’ strigata Laporte de Castelnau 1840LC40
Ripiphoridae incertae sedis:
EvanioceraM86
|--E. boryi Lucas 1847E12
|--E. gerstackeri Macleay 1872M86
|--E. nervosa (Gerstäck 1855) [=Ptilophorus nervosus]M86
`--E. pruinosa (Gerstäck 1855) [=Ptilophorus pruinosus]M86
Euctenia sericea Gerstäck 1855M86
DunbrodianusF02
MadrasiindusF02
SetosicorniaF02
ScotoscopusF02
MicropelecotoidesF02
Toposcopus LeConte 1868 [Ptilophorinae]F02
`--T. wrighti LeConte 1868F02
MicholaeminaeF02
|--AncholaemusF02
|--ClinopsF02
`--MicholaemusF02
Hemirhipidiinae [Nephritinae]LB91
|--NephritesF02
| |--N. japonicus Tôyama & Hatayama 1985F02
| |--N. kurosawai Tôyama & Hatayama 1985F02
| `--N. nitidus Shuck 1838M86
`--Sitarida White 1846LB91, F02 [incl. Goetymes Pascoe 1863F02]
|--‘Goetymes’ flavicornis Pascoe 1863M86
|--S. hopeiM86
`--S. scabricepsLB91
Trigonodera Dejean 1834 [incl. Caspyria Fairmaire 1901, Pelecotoides Laporte 1840, Pelecotomoides Gemminger & Harold 1870]F02
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[B70] Britton, E. B. 1970. Coleoptera (beetles). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 495–621. Melbourne University Press.
[E12] Evenhuis, N. L. 2012. Publication and dating of the Exploration Scientifique de l’Algérie: Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Articulés (1846–1849) by Pierre Hippolyte Lucas. Zootaxa 3448: 1–61.
[F02] Falin, Z. H. 2002. Ripiphoridae Gemminger and Harold 1870 (1853). In: Arnett, R. H., Jr, M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley & J. H. Frank (eds) American Beetles vol. 2. Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea pp. 431–444. CRC Press.
[H82] Helmore, D. W. 1982. Drawings of New Zealand insects. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of New Zealand 8: 1–52.
[LC40] Laporte de Castelnau, F. 1840. Histoire Naturelle des Insectes Coléoptères vol. 2. P. Duménil: Paris.
[LB91] Lawrence, J. F., & E. B. Britton. 1991. Coleoptera (beetles). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 543–683. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).
[M86] Masters, G. 1886. Catalogue of the described Coleoptera of Australia. Part IV. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (2): 259–380.
[MW15] McKenna, D. D., A. L. Wild, K. Kanda, C. L. Bellamy, R. G. Beutel, M. S. Caterino, C. W. Farnum, D. C. Hawks, M. A. Ivie, M. L. Jameson, R. A. B. Leschen, A. E. Marvaldi, J. V. McHugh, A. F. Newton, J. A. Robertson, M. K. Thayer, M. F. Whiting, J. F. Lawrence, A. Ślipiński, D. R. Maddison & B. D. Farrell. 2015. The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end-Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. Systematic Entomology 40 (4): 835–880.
[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.
[R13] Reuter, O. M. 1913. Lebensgewohnheiten und Instinkte der Insekten bis zum Erwachen der sozialen Instinkte. R. Friedländer & Sohn: Berlin.