Phylogeny of Hydrophiloidea (Coleoptera: Staphyliniformia) using characters from adult and preimaginal stages

Abstract

A phylogenetic analysis using characters from egg cases, larvae, pupae and adults was conducted; the outgroups included the beetle families Silphidae, Hydraenidae and Histeridae. Characters from the immature stages were obtained mostly from material reared in the laboratory, those from the adults were obtained from Hansen's generic revision for the superfamily. The results support the position of Hydraenidae within the Staphylinoidea, and not as part of Hydrophiloidea; Histeroidea is proposed as the sister group of Hydrophiloidea. At family level two clades are distinguished; the relationships within the first clade are ((Georissidae Epimetopidae) Helophoridae), those within the second are ((Hydrophilidae Spercheidae) Hydrochidae). Larval characters were most informative at the base of the tree, especially those associated with the spiracular atrium; adult characters were most informative at the apex of the tree.

Descriptions of the egg case and larva of Anacaena and a review of the knowledge and relationships between larvae of Anacaenini (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Hydrophilinae)

“…The larva, described by Winterbourn (1971), bears some characters that differ from those found in Anacaena cordobana: nasale with four teeth, ligula shorter than labial palpi, abdominal segments without large projections, abdominal tergum VIII slightly convex posteriorly. In all these characters it is similar to larvae of Paracymus subcupreus and P. rufocinctus (Archangelsky, 1997(Archangelsky, , 1999. Thus, the larva described by Winterbourn (1971) Orchymont (1940) described the larva of Anacaena marchantiae from Madeira.…”

“…Because Orchymont's larva was correctly identified, Richmond's must have been misidentified and his larva probably does not belong to Anacaena. In addition, the larva described by Richmond (1920) is rather similar to that of Paracymus subcupreus described by Archangelsky (1997), and is therefore likely to belong to Paracymus (see under Paracymus for details). Shaarawi & Angus (1991) mention that the egg cases of Anacaena lutescens, A.…”

“…The status of the knowledge on Anacaenini larvae was summarized by Archangelsky (1997Archangelsky ( , 1999. In addition, there are other overlooked and recent references (Orchymont, 1940;Hansen, 2000;Gentili, 2000).…”

“…Larvae of P. subcupreus and P. rufocinctus were described recently by Archangelsky (1997Archangelsky ( , 1999. Although both larvae differ in some characters (e.g.…”

New records of the water beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae, Hydrophilidae) from the central European Oligocene-Miocene deposits, with a confirmation of the generic attribution of Hydrobiomorpha enspelense Wedmann 2000

“…Th e representatives of recent Hydrophilus inhabit the littoral zone of larger, shallow, well-vegetated water bodies (Hebauer & Klausnitzer 1998). Larvae are predaceous, preying on various planorbiid and limnaeid snails (Archangelsky 1997;Fikáček, unpubl. data).…”