Hydaticus tuyuensis Trémouilles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae): Larval Morphology and Phylogenetic Relationships within Dytiscinae

Abstract

The three larval instars of Hydaticus (Guignotites) tuyuensis Tre´mouilles are described and illustrated for the first time, emphasizing the morphometry and chaetotaxy. Second- and third-instar larvae of the known species of the subgenus Guignotites Brinck are characterized by a trilobate median process of prementum. All larval instars of H. tuyuensis, however, have a bilobate process, similar to that present in the known species of the subgenus Hydaticus Leach. This implies that a trilobate process cannot be used as a diagnostic character for Guignotites. Alternatively, Guignotites as presently defined may not represent a natural group. A cladistic analysis of 57 larval characters suggests that the genus Hydaticus shares a common origin with the clade composed of the genera Eretes Laporte and Thermonectus Dejean, based on the following synapomorphies: (i) abdominal segment VII almost completely sclerotized ventrally; the absence of (ii) additional ventroapical pores on the third antennomere, (iii) setae FE4 and FE6, (iv) additional setae on the femur and (v) additional setae on the tibia; and the presence of (vi) setae on the median process of prementum and (vii) spinulae on the second labial palpomere. A bilobate or trilobate median process of the prementum and the submedial insertion of seta AN3 distinguish Hydaticus from the remaining genera of Dytiscinae studied.