NOMEN: Polyphaga Emery 1886: 654 [C. Emery. Uber Phylogenie und Systematik der Insecten. Biol. Zentralblatt, 1886, 5 (21): 648-656]
ORIGINAL LISTED MEMBERSHIP (Emery 1886):
JUNIOR CIRCUMSCRIPTIONAL SYNONYM:
= Polyphagina Pearce 1936
NON-MONOSEMANTIC CIRCUMSCRIPTIONAL SYNONYM:
TYPIFIED NAME IN BASIC FORMAT: Scarabaeus/fg (sine Carabus)
TYPIFIED NAMES IN USE:
MODERN
STATUS: 
the valid, the
oldest name of a generally accepted, holophyletic taxon.
Systematic position of Polyphaga:
| Coleoptera Archostemata Pantophaga Adephagi Polyphaga s.l. Myxophaga Polyphaga s.str. |
COMMENT. According to the original publication (Emery 1886), the taxon Polyphaga includes all Coleoptera except for Adephaga; representatives of Polyphaga were not listed, so is is unclear if here were attributed or not such small and poorly known taxa as Archostemata and Myxophaga. In the modern classification the name Polyphaga can be attributed to two different taxa – Polyphaga s.l. (including Myxophaga) and Polyphaga s.str. (without Myxoiphaga).