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Issue: Vol. 5380 No. 3: 30 Nov. 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-11-30
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5380.3.3
Page range: 247-264
Abstract views: 197
PDF downloaded: 82

Morphology of the larvae of Rhantaticus congestus (Klug, 1833) and phylogenetic comparison with other known Aciliini (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Dytiscinae)

School of Natural Sciences; Laurentian University; Ramsey Lake Road; Sudbury; Ontario; Canada
University of Buenos Aires; Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences; Department of Biodiversity and Experimental and Applied Biology (IBBEA); Buenos Aires; Argentina
Department of Zoology; Swedish Museum of Natural History; P.O. Box 50007; 10405 Stockholm; Sweden
Department of Entomology; National Museum; Cirkusová 1740; CZ-193 00 Praha 9 – Horní Počernice; Czech Republic
Coleoptera Dytiscidae Eretini Aubehydrini Rhantaticus Madagascar larvae morphometry chaetotaxy phylogeny

Abstract

We describe the second- and third instar larvae of the diving beetle Rhantaticus congestus (Klug, 1833), including detailed morphometric and chaetotaxic analyses of the cephalic capsule, head appendages, legs, terminal abdominal segment and urogomphi in order to discover useful characters for distinguishing Rhantaticus Sharp, 1882 larvae from those of other known Aciliini (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Dytiscinae). A parsimony analysis based on 94 larval characteristics of nine Aciliini species in five genera (Acilius Leach, 1817, Graphoderus Dejean, 1833, Rhantaticus, Sandracottus Sharp, 1882, Thermonectus Dejean, 1833) was conducted using the program TNT. Rhantaticus shares with all these genera several larval character states which support its inclusion in the Aciliini. Whereas Rhantaticus larva stands out from other known genera by several unique character states, our parsimony analysis did not recover any clear phylogenetic position of this genus within the Aciliini.

 

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