The Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Adephaga: Dytiscidae) from the Miradores Lagoon, Veracruz, Mexico

The Neotropical Laccophilinae genus Laccodytes Régimbart, 1895 is redefined and revised. We recognize ten species, six of which are described as new. We define two species groups: the Laccodytes apalodes-group (L. apalodes Guignot, 1955, L. rondonia sp.n.), and the L. phalacroides-group (L. americanus Peschet, 1919, L. obscuratus sp.n., L. bassignanii sp.n., L. neblinae sp.n., L. olibroides Régimbart, 1895, L. phalacroides Régimbart, 1895, L. takutuanus sp.n., L. androginus sp.n.). Laccophilus pumilio LeConte, 1878, assigned to Laccodytes by Young (1954), belongs to an undescribed genus. Laccodytes species are lotic and most of them inhabit the north-eastern part of South America, apparently with Venezuela and Guyana as centre of diversity. Descriptions, illustrations and SEM photos of habitus, genitals and other diagnostic features are provided for each species, together with habitat notes, when known. We provide a key for species identification.

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Swimming behavior of small diving beetles

Journal of Advanced Science ◽

10.2978/jsas.18.46 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 18 (1/2) ◽

pp. 46-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Seiichi SUDO ◽

Tetsuya YANO ◽

Yasuhiko KAN ◽

Yuzuru YAMADA ◽

Koji TSUYUKI

Keyword(s):

Swimming Behavior ◽

Diving Beetles

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New mesozoic diving beetles (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae) from China

Paleontological Journal ◽

10.1134/s0031030110050072 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 526-533 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

A. A. Prokin ◽

D. Ren

Keyword(s):

Diving Beetles

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Diving beetles (Dytiscidae) as predators of mosquito larvae (Culicidae) in field experiments and in laboratory tests of prey preference

Bulletin of Entomological Research ◽

10.1079/ber2003237 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 93 (3) ◽

pp. 219-226 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

E. Lundkvist ◽

J. Landin ◽

M. Jackson ◽

C. Svensson

Keyword(s):

Body Length ◽

Negative Correlation ◽

Laboratory Tests ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Mosquito Larvae ◽

Natural Control ◽

Large Numbers ◽

Diving Beetles ◽

The Mean ◽

Artificial Ponds

AbstractField experiments were performed in artificial ponds to evaluate how the density of predatory diving beetles (Dytiscidae) would affect the population levels of mosquito larvae (Culicidae). Mosquitoes colonizing the ponds were predominantly species of the genus Culex. In 2000, most of the dytiscids colonizing the ponds were small (Hydroporus spp.), and these predators had no impact on the size of larval mosquito populations, not even in ponds with added dytiscids. In 2001, larger beetles (Ilybius, Rhantus, and Agabus spp.) were more common, and there were significantly fewer mosquito larvae in ponds with the highest numbers of dytiscids. There was a negative correlation between numbers of diving beetles in the ponds and the mean body length of mosquito larvae. In neither year could dytiscid densities be maintained above a certain level owing to emigration. In laboratory tests, there were marked differences between three common dytiscid species in regard to preferences for Daphnia and Culex species as prey: Colymbetes paykulli Erichson chose mosquito larvae more often, whereas both Ilybius ater (De Geer) and I. fuliginosus (Fabricius) preferred Daphnia spp. All of the tested dytiscids consumed large numbers of prey. Since some dytiscid species can efficiently decrease populations of mosquito larvae, they are probably important in the natural control of these dipterans.

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Behavior and aquatic plants as factors affecting predation by three species of larval predaceous diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae)

Hydrobiologia ◽

10.1007/s10750-009-9982-7 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 637 (1) ◽

pp. 33-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Donald A. Yee

Keyword(s):

Aquatic Plants ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Diving Beetles

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Identification of trophic niches of subterranean diving beetles in a calcrete aquifer by DNA and stable isotope analyses

Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1071/mf12356 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 65 (2) ◽

pp. 95 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Tessa M. Bradford ◽

William F. Humphreys ◽

Andrew D. Austin ◽

Steven J. B. Cooper

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

Trophic Ecology ◽

Niche Partitioning ◽

Niche Differentiation ◽

Trophic Niche ◽

Coi Gene ◽

Stable Isotope Analyses ◽

Prey Preferences ◽

Diving Beetles ◽

Isotope Analyses

The Yilgarn calcrete aquifers in Western Australia are an interesting system for investigating the process of speciation within subterranean habitats, because of the limited opportunities for dispersal between isolated calcretes. The presence of different-sized diving beetles (Dytiscidae) in separate calcretes, including sympatric sister-species pairs, suggests that species may have evolved within calcretes by an adaptive shift as a result of ecological-niche differentiation. We have studied the potential for trophic niche partitioning in a sister triplet of diving beetles, of distinctly different sizes, from a single aquifer. Fragments of the mitochondrial COI gene, specific to known species of amphipods and copepods, were polymerase chain reaction-amplified from each of the three beetle species, indicating that there is an overlap in their prey items. Significant differences were found in the detected diets of the three species, and results showed a propensity for prey preferences of amphipods by the large beetles and one species of copepod for the small beetles. A terrestrial source of carbon to the calcrete was suggested by stable isotope analyses. The combined approach of molecular, stable isotope and behavioural studies have provided insight into the trophic ecology of this difficult-to-access environment, providing a framework for more fine-scale analyses of the diet of different-sized species to examine speciation underground.

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