Chrysomeloidea is an enormous superfamily

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...

 of beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

s. There are tens of thousands of species, mostly in the families Cerambycidae (the long-horned beetles) and Chrysomelidae, the leaf beetle

Leaf beetle

Beetles in the family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles. This is a family of over 35,000 species in more than 2,500 genera, one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle families....

s.

Overview

Several species in these two families are important plant pests. The spotted cucumber beetle

Spotted cucumber beetle

The spotted cucumber beetle is a major agricultural pest insect . In the adult form it eats and damages leaves of many crops, including cucumbers, soybeans, cotton, beans and many others...

 is a serious pest of vegetables and is a very common insect on all sorts of flowers. The Colorado potato beetle

Colorado potato beetle

The Colorado potato beetle , also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle or the potato bug, is an important pest of potato crops. It is approximately 10 mm long, with a bright yellow/orange body and five bold brown stripes along the length of each...

, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, attacks potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es and other members of the Solanaceae

Solanaceae

Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...

. The Asian long-horned beetle

Asian long-horned beetle

The Asian long-horned beetle known as the starry sky or sky beetle is native to eastern China, Japan, and Korea. This species has now been accidentally introduced to the United States, where it was first discovered in 1996, as well as Canada and several countries in Europe, including Austria,...

 is a serious pest of trees where it has been introduced.

Some authorities have suggested removing the Cerambycidae and related families (Disteniidae

Disteniidae

The Disteniidae are a small family of beetles in the superfamily Chrysomeloidea, traditionally treated as a group within the Cerambycidae .-Adult:The adults have a lepturoid aspect, having like those a divided...

, Oxypeltidae

Oxypeltidae

The Oxypeltidae are a small family belonging to the superfamily Chrysomeloidea, widespread in the Andean region of Chile and Argentina. They have traditionally been considered a group within the Cerambycidae.-Description:...

, and Vesperidae) from Chrysomeloidea to create a separate superfamily "Cerambycoidea" (e.g.), but in the absence of evidence to support the monophyly of the resulting groups, this proposal has not yet been accepted by the scientific community.