Spercheus

Last updated

Spercheus
Spercheus senegalensis Laporte de Castelnau, 1832 (9537687977).png
Dorsal view of S. senegalensis
Spercheus senegalensis Laporte de Castelnau 1832 (9537678637).png
Profile view of S. senegalensis
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Infraorder: Staphyliniformia
Superfamily: Hydrophiloidea
Family: Spercheidae
Erichson, 1837
Genus: Spercheus
Kugelann, 1798

Spercheus is a genus of aquatic beetles which are placed in a family of their own, Spercheidae within the Hydrophiloidea. About 20 species are known from around the world except the Nearctic [1] with the majority being from the Oriental and Afrotropical Realms.

Contents

Larva of Spercheus emarginatus De metamorphosi eleutheratorum observationes (Tab. IX) (8243601573).jpg
Larva of Spercheus emarginatus

All life stages are found in shallow still water with rich vegetation, which in some species includes temporary saline pools. [2] Adults and larvae live attached to pieces of vegetation or debris, and also walk on the underside of the water surface. Air is held in a bubble on the underside of the body. The larvae feed on grazed detritus as well as drifting algae, dead organisms, and other organic refuse. The adults live as filter feeders on floating debris like decaying plant material and other decomposing organic remains. [1] The adult females build a silken-egg case which they attach to their mid-tibiae and held by the hind legs, carried below the abdomen. [3] These beetles were formerly placed in the family Hydrophilidae but are distinctive. [4]

The front of the head is notched and the 7–9 segmented antenna has the terminal 3–4 segments club like and an enlarged fourth segment. The elytra are very convex and one or two abdominal segments may extend beyond the apex. They have 5 tarsal segments on all legs. [5] [1]

Possible fossils of Spercheus have been described from the Eocene aged Bembridge Marls of the Isle of Wight, England. [1] The extinct genus Prospercheus from the Late Jurassic of Shar-Teg, Mongolia, has also been considered a close relative of Spercheus, and also placed in Spercheidae. [6] [7]

Species

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrophilidae</span> Family of beetles

Hydrophilidae, also known colloquially as water scavenger beetles, is a family of beetles. Aquatic hydrophilids are notable for their long maxillary palps, which are longer than their antennae. Several of the former subfamilies of Hydrophilidae have recently been removed and elevated to family rank; Epimetopidae, Georissidae, Helophoridae, Hydrochidae, and Spercheidae. While the majority of hydrophilids are aquatic, around a third of described species are terrestrial, mostly belonging to the subfamily Sphaeridiinae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myxophaga</span> Suborder of beetles

Myxophaga is the second-smallest suborder of the Coleoptera after Archostemata, consisting of roughly 65 species of small to minute beetles in four families. The members of this suborder are aquatic and semiaquatic, and feed on algae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrophiloidea</span> Superfamily of beetles

Hydrophiloidea, known as water scavenger beetles, is a superfamily of beetles. Until recently it included only a single family, the Hydrophilidae, but several of the subfamilies have been removed and raised to family rank. Hydrophiliidae remains by far the largest member of the group, with nearly 3,000 described species. The other families have no more than 400 species. The Histeroidea are closely related and sometimes considered part of a sensu lato Hydrophiloidea. The majority of the clade is aquatic, which is thought to be the ancestral ecology of the group, with some lineages like Sphaeridiinae becoming secondarily terrestrial. Modern representatives of the group first appeared during the Late Jurassic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Histeroidea</span> Superfamily of beetles

Histeroidea is a superfamily of beetles in the infraorder Staphyliniformia.

<i>Helophorus</i> Genus of beetles

Helophorus is the only genus in the beetle family Helophoridae within the Hydrophiloidea. They are small insects, found mainly in the Holarctic region, but two or three species also live in the Afrotropical region, Central America and one in the Indomalayan region.

<i>Hydrochus</i> Genus of beetles

Hydrochus is the only living genus of beetle in the family Hydrochidae, which belongs to the superfamily Hydrophiloidea, and was formerly treated as a subfamily of Hydrophilidae. Hydrochus includes about 180 species, which are found worldwide. The name "Hydrochus" has also been used for a fly genus in the family Dolichopodidae, but this is a junior subjective synonym of the genus Rhaphium.

<i>Hydrophilus</i> (beetle) Genus of beetles

Hydrophilus is a genus of beetles in the family Hydrophilidae, the water scavenger beetles. There are 53 species in three subgenera in the genus: Hydrophilus, Dibolocelus, and Temnopterus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrophilinae</span> Subfamily of beetles

Hydrophilinae is a subfamily of Hydrophilidae that contains five tribes in 33 genera after the classification was revised by Short and Fikáček in 2013.

<i>Tropisternus</i> Genus of beetles

Tropisternus is a genus of hydrophilid beetles with 63 species in five subgenera in North and South America.

<i>Hydrochara</i> Genus of beetles

Hydrochara is a genus of hydrophilid beetles with 23 species in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acidocerinae</span> Subfamily of beetles

Acidocerinae is a subfamily in the family Hydrophilidae of aquatic beetles, and it contains over 500 species in 23 genera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaetarthriinae</span> Tribe of beetles

Chaetarthriinae is a subfamily in the family Hydrophilidae of aquatic beetles, and it contains 92 species in 8 genera.

<i>Cymbiodyta bifidus</i> Species of beetle

Cymbiodyta bifidus is a species of hydrophilid beetle. The species was formerly the sole member of the genus Helocombus.

<i>Hydrobiomorpha</i> Genus of beetles

Hydrobiomorpha is a genus of water scavenger beetles in the family Hydrophilidae. There are 56 extant described species in Hydrobiomorpha, along with several fossil species.

<i>Horelophus walkeri</i> Species of beetle

Horelophus walkeri is a small water scavenger beetle that is endemic to New Zealand. It is found in the South Island in the West Coast, Nelson, Buller and Marlborough regions. The preferred habitat of this species are the moss and crevices within the splash zone of waterfalls sourced from fast flowing, clear, cool waterways. The larvae of this species are carnivorous while the adults are herbivores or scavengers. In 2012 the Department of Conservation classified this beetle as Nationally Endangered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epimetopidae</span> Family of beetles

Epimetopidae is a family of semi-aquatic beetles belonging to the Hydrophiloidea. They are found in sand and gravel at the edges of streams, rivers and shallow freshwater ponds. These beetles are shorter than half a centimeter long and have a pronotum with a central projection forming a shelf above the head. On the underside of the abdomen only four sternites are visible. There are approximately 72 described species in three genera, Epimetopus which is restricted to the New World, mostly Neotropical, Eupotemus with two Afrotropical species and Eumetopus with some Oriental species. Females carry their eggcases on the underside of the abdomen. The larvae are probably carnivorous based on their mouthparts and likely live in the same habitats as the adults.

<i>Coelostoma</i> Genus of beetles

Coelostoma is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Hydrophilidae. The genus was first described by Brullé in 1835. The genus has cosmopolitan distribution, with 111 described species, representing one of the most diverse genera of Hydrophilidae.

<i>Colossochares</i> Genus of beetles

Colossochares is an Afrotropical genus of water scavenger beetle in the family Hydrophilidae represented by two described species.

<i>Peltochares</i> Genus of beetles

Peltochares is a genus of water scavenger beetles in the family Hydrophilidae represented by eight described species. It is distributed across the Afrotropical, Australasian, Indo-Malayan, and Palaearctic realms.

Amphiopini is a tribe in the subfamily Hydrophilinae of aquatic beetles, which was first described in 1890 by August Ferdinand Kuwert, and which has been synonymised with Chaetarthriini.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Slipinski, Adam; Lawrence, John, eds. (2019). "19. Spercheidae Erichson, 1837". Australian Beetles Volume 2: Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga (part). CSIRO.
  2. "12. Hydrophiloidea Latreille, 1802". Volume 1 Coleoptera, Beetles. Morphology and Systematics, edited by Rolf G. Beutel and Richard A.B. Leschen, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2016, pp. 231-272.
  3. Archangelsky, Miguel (2001). "A new Neotropical species of Spercheus Kugelann, and its larval stages (Coleoptera, Hydrophiloidea: Spercheidae)". Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment. 36 (3): 199–204. doi:10.1076/snfe.36.3.199.2128. hdl: 11336/97451 . S2CID   84693791.
  4. Archangelsky, Miguel (1998). "Phylogeny of Hydrophiloidea (Coleoptera: Staphyliniformia) using characters from adult and preimaginal stages". Systematic Entomology. 23: 9–24. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3113.1998.00039.x. S2CID   83521707.
  5. Short, A. E. Z.; Fikáček (2013). "Molecular phylogeny, evolution and classification of the Hydrophilidae (Coleoptera)". Systematic Entomology. 38 (4): 723–752. doi:10.1111/syen.12024. S2CID   83050858.
  6. Toussaint, Emmanuel F. A.; Seidel, Matthias; Arriaga-Varela, Emmanuel; Hájek, Jiří; Král, David; Sekerka, Lukaš; Short, Andrew E. Z.; Fikáček, Martin (January 2017). "The peril of dating beetles". Systematic Entomology. 42 (1): 1–10. doi: 10.1111/syen.12198 . ISSN   0307-6970.
  7. Prokin, A. A. (October 2009). "New water scavenger beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) from the mesozoic of Mongolia". Paleontological Journal. 43 (6): 660–663. doi:10.1134/S0031030109060094. ISSN   0031-0301. S2CID   129299140.