Hovahydrus praetextus ( Guignot, 1951 )

Alarie, Yves, Michat, Mariano C., Ranarilalatiana, Tolotra & Bergsten, Johannes, 2022, Larval morphology of the Madagascan endemic diving beetle genus Hovahydrus Biström, 1982 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) and phylogenetic comparison with other known Hyphydrini, Zootaxa 5219 (3), pp. 227-246 : 232

Hovahydrus praetextus ( Guignot, 1951)

( Figs 13–16 )

Source of material. The only instar III larva studied was associated with adults collected at the following locality: Madagascar: Antsiranana: Sava Marojejy National Park :alpine, above treeline:small clearwater stream with knee-deep pools, below summit: MAD18-31 . 14.4506S, 49.7318E, 2060 m, 10.II.2018. Leg J. Bergsten & T. Ranarilalatiana .

Diagnosis (instar III). The instar III larvae of Hovahydrus praetextus can easily be distinguished from those of Hovahydrus sp. by the following combination of characters: larger size, HL = 1.13 mm; head capsule pear-shaped, frontoclypeus narrower, rounded apically ( Fig. 13 ); parietale with a large number of temporal spines in dorsal view ( Fig. 13 ); metathoracic leg shorter, <2.90 times HW; femora, tibiae and tarsi with a larger number of secondary setae ( Figs 15–16 ; Table 2 ); abdominal segment VIII lightly constricted at point of insertion of urogomphi ( Fig. 14 ).

Figures

FIGURES 13–14. Hovahydrus praetextus (Guignot, 1951), instar III: (13) head capsule, dorsal aspect; (14) abdominal segment VIII, dorsal aspect. Scale bars = 0.15 mm.

FIGURES 15–16. Hovahydrus praetextus (Guignot, 1951), instar III: (9) mesothoracic leg, anterior aspect; (10) mesothoracic leg, posterior aspect. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.