Phytophaga is a clade of beetles within the infraorder Cucujiformia consisting of the superfamilies Chrysomeloidea and Curculionoidea that are distinctive in the plant-feeding habit combined with the tarsi being pseudotetramerous or cryptopentamerous, where the fourth tarsal segment is typically greatly reduced or hidden by the third tarsal segment.

Megalopodidae Cerambycidae Chrysomelidae Nemonychidae Anthribidae Belidae Attelabidae Brentidae Curculionidae The diversification of species within the Phytophaga is thought to be associated with the speciation within the Angiosperms.

[3] With nearly 125,000 described species they are the second largest phytophagous lineage of insects after the order Lepidoptera.

The derived G45s from Phytophaga degrade 3 main substances: amorphous cellulose, xyloglucan and glucomannan.

It was also composed of fungal sequences, acquired by gene transfer from fungi.