Abstract
The larval morphology of the water scavenger beetlePsalitrusyamatensisHoshina & Satô, 2005 is described based on a specimen collected from Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. This is the first description of the larval morphology of the hydrophilid genusPsalitrusd’Orchymont, 1919, as well as the first description of larval chaetotaxy of the tribe Omicrini. Species-level identification of the larva was performed using DNA barcoding of a molecular marker: a 658 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I. A description including chaetotaxy of head capsule and head appendages, diagnosis, and illustrations of the larva is provided.Psalitruslarvae can be distinguished from other known larvae of the tribe Omicrini by the morphology of the head and legs. The larva shares characters with other known larvae of Omicrini; potential plesiomorphies are shared with Cylominae and aquatic hydrophilids; some characters are also shared with larvae of Megasternini and Sphaeridiini.
Highlights
The tribe Omicrini, comprising 15 genera worldwide, is a group of small, terrestrial hydrophilid beetles belonging to the subfamily Sphaeridiinae (Hansen 1999; Short and Fikáček 2011)
Larvae of the tribe are only known from two species and one unidentified larva: Peratogonus reversus
Pairwise p-distance analysis (Table 2) shows that the c oxidase I (COI) sequence of the presumed Psalitrus larva is identical to the sequenced adults of Ps. yamatensis collected at the same locality, as well as in Ôita Prefecture
Summary
The tribe Omicrini, comprising 15 genera worldwide, is a group of small, terrestrial hydrophilid beetles belonging to the subfamily Sphaeridiinae (Hansen 1999; Short and Fikáček 2011). Members of the tribe inhabit various terrestrial habitats, such as decaying matter (Bameul 1992; Hoshina 2007) and bromeliads (Hansen and Richardson 1998; Albertoni and Fikáček 2014), or they are associated with termites (Schödl 1995) They are rarely collected relative to other groups of hydrophilid. The phylogenetic position of the genus remains unclear; Psalitrus is in an early-branching clade of Sphaeridiinae together with Aculomicrus Smetana, 1990 and Peratogonus Sharp, 1884 in the tree proposed by Short and Fikáček (2013), but it was revealed as sister to Tylomicrus Schödl, 1995 + Omicrogiton Orchymont, 1919 by Fikáček et al (2015).
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