Ontophylogenetic character analysis of Diaphanes (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and extrapolation to the broader Coleoptera

Abstract

A new diagnostic approach called an “ontophylogenetic character analysis” is introduced that can determine whether differences between larviform lampyrids are due to change in the degree of metamorphic elaboration or somatic gene mutation. When performed on five species of larviform female Diaphanes, D. citrinus Olivier 1911, D. cheni Jeng 2001, D. flavilateris Jeng & Yang 2001, D. nubilus Jeng & Lai 2001, and D. formosus Olivier 1910 are determined to be, consecutively in that order, more and more imaginal. It is concluded that each is quitting the pharate pupal stage consecutively later and not finishing the full metamorphic program experienced by the male because the endocrine system is arresting elaboration at those points. They then move on to the pupa, pharate adult, and teneral adult stages to render imagos that are variously hypermorphic or neotenic relative to each other. The same character analysis is extrapolated to the broader Coleoptera, with the finding that hypermorphosis and neoteny were in operation during cladogenesis of the Order.