Prostomidae are elongate beetles with parallel sided elytra. They have the mandibles forward facing (prognathous) and have a large jugular process. The antennae are 11 segmented with a weak club formed by the last three segments. The large mandibles, small eyes, the elytra and pronotum of the same width, and a tarsal formula of 4-4-4 make them distinctive. Larvae and adults are found mainly inside fallen logs.[2] The larvae feed on the rotten wood, particularly on the rotting heartwood of thick logs, as well as the mud-like matter found in red coloured decomposing wood.[3]
An extinct genus, Vetuprostomis is known from several species described from mid-CretaceousBurmese amber found in northern Myanmar. It is suggested to be more closely related to Dryocora than to Prostomis.[4][5]
^ abMichael A. Ivie (2002). Ross H. Arnett & Michael Charles Thomas (ed.). American Beetles: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. Volume 2 of American Beetles. CRC Press. ISBN978-0-8493-0954-0.
^Park, Jong-Seok; Ahn, Kee-Jeong (2005). "A taxonomic note on the little known family Prostomidae in Korea (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea)". Entomological Research. 35 (3): 169–171. doi:10.1111/j.1748-5967.2005.tb00154.x. ISSN1738-2297.
^Seago, Ainsley and Beutel, Rolf G.. "11.15. Prostomidae G. G.Thomson, 1859". Volume 2 Morphology and Systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim), edited by Willy Kükenthal, Richard A.B. Leschen, Rolf G. Beutel and John F. Lawrence, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 2011, pp. 659-667.
^Engel, M.S.; Grimaldi, D.A. (2008). "A jugular-horned beetle in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Coleoptera: Prostomidae)". Alavesia. 2: 215–218.
