{{Short description|Genus of beetles}} {{Speciesbox | genus = Sikhotealinia | parent_authority = Lafer, 1996 | species = zhiltzovae | authority = Lafer, 1996 }}

'''''Sikhotealinia''''' is a genus of beetle containing a single species, known from a single specimen, '''''Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae''''', which is considered to be the only living representative of the family Jurodidae, with the other members of the family being known only from fossils uncovered in Transbaikal. It was discovered in 1996 along the environs of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in Outer Manchuria within Russia's Far East region. This "living fossil" is apparently 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Yan|first1=Evgeny V.|last2=Wang|first2=Bo|last3=Ponomarenko|first3=Alexander G.|last4=Zhang|first4=Haichun|date=2014|title=The most mysterious beetles: Jurassic Jurodidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) from China|url=https://www.rosspiper.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Jurodidae_yan2014.pdf|journal=Gondwana Research|language=en|volume=25|issue=1|pages=214–225|doi=10.1016/j.gr.2013.04.002}}</ref> However, the claims that ''Sikhotealinia'' belongs to Archostemata, and that it has three ocelli, have not been independently confirmed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leschen |first1=R.A.B. |last2=Beutel |first2=R.G. |year=2004 |title=Ocellar atavism in Coleoptera: plesiomorphy or apomorphy? |journal=Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=63–69 |doi=10.1046/j.0947-5745.2003.00241.x |s2cid=56327166 |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bb3a/09ad07caf2763a742995734aa14d5b58827a.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302193929/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bb3a/09ad07caf2763a742995734aa14d5b58827a.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-03-02}}</ref>

Its uncovering within the Sikhote-Alin has been a rare discovery within the family Jurodidae, which has been called "most mysterious representatives of beetles."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kirejtshuk |first=Alexander G. |last2=Ponomarenko |first2=Alexander G. |last3=Prokin |first3=Alexander A. |last4=Huali |first4=Chang |last5=Nikolajev |first5=Georgy V. |last6=Dong |first6=Ren |date=August 2010 |title=Current Knowledge of Mesozoic Coleoptera from Daohugou and Liaoning (Northeast China) |url=https://www.zin.ru/animalia/coleoptera/pdf/Kirejtshuk_et_al_acta_geol_sin_2010_compact.pdf |journal=Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=783–792 |doi=10.1111/j.1755-6724.2010.00253.x |issn=1000-9515|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Irrelevant citation|date=October 2025}} However, nothing else has yet been currently established with regards to the original area of distribution, the habitat, the biology and the immature stages of this species.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beutel |first=Rolf G. |last2=Ge |first2=Si‐qin |last3=Hörnschemeyer |first3=Thomas |date=2007-12-07 |title=On the head morphology of <i>Tetraphalerus</i>, the phylogeny of Archostemata and the basal branching events in Coleoptera |journal=Cladistics |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=270–298 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-0031.2007.00186.x | doi-access=free |issn=0748-3007}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.zin.ru/ANIMALIA/COLEOPTERA/eng/incoju.htm Illustration] * [http://www.zin.ru/animalia/coleoptera/eng/sikhot06.htm Most mysterious representative of beetles - ''Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae'' Lafer, 1996] Photos

{{Taxonbar|from=Q18116001}}

Category:Archostemata Category:Monotypic Archostemata genera Category:Beetles of Asia Category:Beetles of Russia Category:Fauna of the Russian Far East Category:Beetles described in 1996