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Type: Correspondence
Published: 2019-01-17
Page range: 441–442
Abstract views: 96
PDF downloaded: 3

Lepicerus larva still unknown: a correction (Coleoptera: Lepiceridae, Phalacridae)

CSIRO Australian National Insect Collection, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2101, Australia. 61 Glenbar Road The Palms, QLD 4570 Australia.
61 Glenbar Road The Palms, QLD 4570 Australia. Corresponding author.
Institut für Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung, FSU Jena, Jena, Germany.
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Coleoptera Lepiceridae Phalacridae

Abstract

The larva of Lepicerus inaequalis Motschulsky was described by Lawrence et al. (2013) based on several early instars and one late instar collected among wet leaves and debris near Gamboa, Panama. The identification was based on collection of an adult Lepicerus in a similar habitat nearby and a combination of characters found in other myxophagan immatures but not known in other beetle larvae. We accepted this identification with some reservations, but a misinterpretation of one feature in the original description plus an unexpected new source of evidence makes it likely that our identification was incorrect. The one misinterpreted feature in this larva was the retraction of the ventral mouthparts. Reexamining the larvae, it was found that a pair of tendons extending mesally from the hypostomal rods were misinterpreted as maxillary bases. The mouthparts are definitely protracted, which is expected with long hypostomal rods. The new source of evidence is somewhat complicated, as explained below.

 

References

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