Larvae of Alaus myops, A. oculatus, Chalcolepidius porcatus, Hemirhipus apicalis and generic larval characterization (Elateridae, Agrypninae, Hemirhipini)

Abstract

Larva of Hemirhipus Latreille, 1825 is herein described for the first time. Larvae of Chalcolepidius porcatus (Linnaeus, 1767), from Peru, and Hemirhipus apicalis Candèze, 1857, from Argentina, are described and of Alaus myops (Fabricius, 1801), from USA (Illinois and Maryland), and A. oculatus (Linnaeus, 1758), from USA (Illinois and Florida), are redescribed and illustrated. A comparison among the known larvae in each genus is presented. An historical review and the larval characterization of five genera and fourteen species of Hemirhipini genera are also included.

On the Mature Larva of the Western Eyed Click BeetleAlaus melanopsLeConte, 1863 with Comparison to Related Species (Coleoptera: Elateridae)

“…Among the known larvae of Alaus (Casari 2002), the mature larva of the western eyed click beetle A. melanops is most similar to the blind click beetle A. myops (compare with Table 1). It is worthy to note that a cladistic analysis based on the adult morphology placed A. melanops close to A. zunianus as sister taxa (Casari 2008).…”

“…Plates with figures of selected structures were prepared from larvae. The description and terminology used in this paper follow Casari (2002). Body length was measured along midline from head apex to apex of last abdominal tergum.…”

“…9, Antenna, dorsal; 10, antenna, ventral; 11, clypeus (= nasale), dorsal; 12, frons, dorsal; 13, mandible, dorsal; 14, hypopharyngeal complex, dorsal; 15, galea and lacinia, dorsal; 16, maxillary palp, dorsal; 17, maxillary palp, ventral; 18, labium, dorsal; 19, labium, ventral. lar submentum, mandibles without inner teeth, and 10th abdominal segment with strong teeth (Casari 2002). In this paper, we describe the morphology of the larva of A. melanops and provide taxonomically important characters.…”

“…Unlike larval morphology, the morphology of adults is relatively well studied and described (Casari 2003). Larvae of only 3 species have been described to date (blind click beetle A. myops (F., 1801), eastern eyed click beetle A. oculatus (L., 1758), and A. nobilis Sallé, 1855 (Böving & Craighead 1931;Peterson 1960;Becker 1991;Casari 2002).…”