Ptilodactylidae, Laporte, 1836

Shepard, William D. & Sites, Robert W., 2019, Aquatic Larvae Of Eulichadidae and Ptilodactylidae (Coleoptera: Byrrhoidea) from Thailand, with Description of the Larva of? Pseudocladotoma Pic, The Coleopterists Bulletin 73 (1), pp. 142-148 : 145-146

Ptilodactylidae

Ptilodactylidae comprises approximately 35 genera (Lawrence 2008) and 500–600 species (Stribling 1986a) placed in five extant subfamilies: Anchytarsinae , Aploglossinae , Araeopidiinae , Cladotominae , and Ptilodactylinae (Costa et al. 1999; Chatzimanolis et al. 2012; Kundrata et al. 2018). Ptilodactylidae are particularly diverse in the tropics and subtropics (Lawrence 2008). Two species, Aphebodactyla rhetine Chatzimanolis, Cashion, Engel, and Falin (Chatzimanolis et al. 2012) and Ptilodactyloides stipulicornis Motschulsky (Motschulsky 1856) , are known from fossils. Most species are terrestrial, although several genera have aquatic larvae. Adults are usually swept from stream-side vegetation or found at lights at night. Aquatic larvae are associated with organic matter (leaf packs and rotting wood) or rocks in streams. Life history information is available for Paralichas trivittis (Germar) (Funk and Fenstermacher 2002) , Anchytarsus bicolor (Melsheimer) (LeSage and Harper 1976) , Anchytarsus papalis (Champion) (Spangler 1983) , Austrolichas monteithi Lawrence and Stribling (Lawrence and Stribling 1992), Drupeus hygropetricus Lee, Lawrence, and Satô ( Lee et al. 2005) and Anchycteis brunneicornis (Lewis) (Hayashi and Nakamura 2008) .

All described larvae from the subfamily Cladotominae are unique in that they possess a spiracular siphon on the eighth abdominal segment (Lawrence and Stribling 1992; Funk and Fenstermacher 2002; Lee et al. 2005; Lawrence 2008; R. Kundrata, in litt.). Our new larva possesses that spiracular siphon. Additionally, Cladotominae is the only subfamily with genera having aquatic larvae and that is geographically close to Thailand. The six extant cladotomine genera and their known distributions are: Austrolichas Lawrence and Stribling ( Australia) ; Cladotoma Westwood (South America); Drupeus Lewis ( Japan, Russia, Taiwan); Hovactyla Fairmaire (Afrotropical) ; Paralichas White (North 146 America, Japan, China, Madagascar); and Pseu-

docladotoma Pic ( China, Malaysia, Java). Larvae

are described for Austrolichas (Lawrence and

Stribling 1992), Drupeus ( Lee et al. 2005) , and

Paralichas (Funk and Fenstermacher 2002) . None

of those larvae match the morphology of the Thai

specimen we examined, although the larva of

Drupeus bears some resemblance (see below).

Cladotoma and Hovactyla are geographically ex-

tralimital as candidate genera for the Thai specimen.

Thus, we conclude that the larva we describe, di-

agnose and illustrate herein is? Pseudocladotoma ;

we include the “?” because it could represent an

undescribed genus. Ventral thoracic sclerite termi-

nology follows Lee et al. (2005).

Pseudocladotoma has four species: P. maculata

Pic, 1918; P. piceiceps Pic, 1930; P. rufonotatus

(Pic, 1931), and P. vitaticollis Pic, 1930. All four

species are considered to have an Oriental distri-

bution. Pseudocladotoma maculata was described

from Java. Pseudocladotoma piceiceps was de-

scribed from China. Pseudocladotoma rufonotatus

was described from Borneo. Pseudocladotoma

vitaticollis was described from China (Stribling

1986 b). An image of the holotype of Pseudocla-

dotoma maculata (deposited in the Muséum na-

tional d’ Histoire naturelle, Paris) is provided to

enable recognition of adults of the genus ( Fig. 1B ).

Figures

Fig. 1. A) Eulichas female (27 mm long), B) Pseudocladotoma maculata (9 mm long).