Prostomidae

{{Short description|Family of beetles}}

{{automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossilrange|99|0|Cenomanian-Recent}}

| taxon = Prostomidae

| image = Prostomis mandibularis (Fabricius 1801) (22352849828).png

| image_caption = Prostomis mandibularis

| image2 = Dryocora howitti 165549700 (cropped).jpg

| image2_caption = Dryocora howitti

| display_parents = 3

| authority = C. G. Thomson, 1859

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision = *Dryocora

• Prostomis
• †Vetuprostomis

}}

File:Dryocora howitti larva.jpg

Prostomidae is a family of beetles with no vernacular common name, though recent authors have coined the name jugular-horned beetles. They are often found in dead wood.{{cite book |author=Michael A. Ivie |title=American Beetles: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea |series=Volume 2 of American Beetles |editor=Ross H. Arnett & Michael Charles Thomas |publisher=CRC Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8493-0954-0}} The family consist of two extant genera with about 20 species. Prostomis americanus is known from North America. Other species of Prostomis are found in Europe, Africa, the Pacific region and East Asia. Species of Dryocora are known from New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania.

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.{{Cite journal|last1=Park|first1=Jong-Seok|last2=Ahn|first2=Kee-Jeong|date=2005|title=A taxonomic note on the little known family Prostomidae in Korea (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea)|journal=Entomological Research|language=en|volume=35|issue=3|pages=169–171|doi=10.1111/j.1748-5967.2005.tb00154.x|issn=1738-2297}} 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.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.

An extinct genus, Vetuprostomis is known from several species described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber found in northern Myanmar. It is suggested to be more closely related to Dryocora than to Prostomis.{{cite journal|author1=Engel, M.S.|author2=Grimaldi, D.A.|year=2008|title=A jugular-horned beetle in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Coleoptera: Prostomidae)|journal=Alavesia|volume=2|pages=215–218}}{{Cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yan-Da |last2=Hsiao |first2=Yun |last3=Huang |first3=Di-Ying |last4=Cai |first4=Chen-Yang |date=2022-04-13 |title=New species of Vetuprostomis from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea: Prostomidae) |url=https://mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5125.5.6 |journal=Zootaxa |volume=5125 |issue=5 |pages=563–574 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.5125.5.6 |issn=1175-5334|doi-access=free |pmid=36101196 |url-access=subscription }}