Eucnemidae, sensu Muona, 1993

Muona, Jyrki & Teräväinen, Marianna, 2020, A Re-evaluation of the Eucnemidae larval characters (Coleoptera), Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 60 (28), pp. 1-13 : 7

Eucnemidae : Eucneminae

( Figs. 4C )

The complete developmental sequence of only one genus, Eucnemis Ahrens , is known. During most of the life-history the larva is similar to those of species belonging to Macraulacinae ( Fornax , Dromaeolus (s. str.) Kiesenwetter, Dromaeoloides Cobos , Onichodon Newman ) and Melasinae ( Agalba Broun, Hylis des Gozis , Microrhagus Dejean, Prodirrhagus Fleutiaux , Xylophilus Mannerheim ) ( Fig.4A ).The main larval form of Eucnemis is,however,conspicuously strongly sclerotized and with large microtrichial patches. The totally different prepupal type has small spike-like structures on head capsule instead of teeth and mandibles and a prominent pair of strong sclerotized rods ventrally on prothorax ( Figs. 4 B-C). Apparently the developmental strategies are wide in the subfamily, as Stethon LeConte has a similar prepupal form, but the larval stage before that differs radically from the corresponding larval stage of Eucnemis (see Otto & Gruber, 2016).This variation may reflect the fact that the two genera belong to different tribes, Eucnemini and Mesogenini .The descriptions available for species belonging to a third Eucneminae tribe, Galbitini , suggest that the larvae of Arisus Bonvouloir , Galbimorpha Fleutiaux and Galbites Fleutiaux may offer still further developmental variation, partly similar to that of Farsus du Val in subfamily Melasinae . Unfortunately the descriptions refer only to single stages of these types.

Figures

Figure 4. Eucnemiscapucinus Ahrens,larval head.(A) Main larval form;(B) prepupal larval form,dorsal;(C) prepupal form,ventral.a = antenna,bt = basal tooth, ft = front tooth,lt = lateral tooth,m = mandible.