Paussinae

Fikáček, Martin, Skuhrovec, Jiří, Šípek, Petr & Fikáček, for abstracts see, 2010, Abstracts of the Immature Beetles Meeting 2009, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (1), pp. 321-340 : 330

Paussinae ( Coleoptera : Carabidae ) larvae recently discovered in Asia and Madagascar

Wendy MOORE 1), Andrea DI GIULIO 2) & Xiao-bin SONG 3)

1) Department of Biology, University “Roma Tre”, Viale G. Marconi 446, I-00146 Rome, Italy; e-mail: [e-mail]

2) Department of Entomology , University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0036 USA ; e-mail: [e-mail]

3) Room 401, No. 1, 280 Lane, LiXi Road, ChangNing District, Shanghai City, China; e-mail: [e-mail]

Paussinae , commonly known as flanged bombardier beetles, are a pantropical group of approximately 750 described species, most of which are obligate symbionts with ants. Larvae are described from relatively few, but taxonomically diverse, species representing 4 of the 5 tribes and 11 of the 43 genera. The larval stage has strong apomorphic traits that define the subfamily as well as many characters that are phylogenetically informative within the group. Since the last comprehensive review (DI GIULIO et al. 2003) many new larvae have been described filling significant gaps in our knowledge (DI GIULIO & MOORE 2004, 2009; MOORE & DI GIULIO 2006). Most recently, larvae of Sphaerostylus (Sphaerostylus) goryi (Laporte de Castelnau, 1834) were collected in Madagascar and larvae of Eustra Schmidt-Goebel were collected in Asia [ Eustra sp. was collected from a Pachycondyla javana Mayr, 1867 nest in Taiwan (MOORE 2006; Gustav Chen, personal communication) and Eustra chinensis Bänninger, 1949 was field collected and reared from adults in Shanghai, China]. Here, we present a preliminary assessment of morphology of these larvae and discuss a method of using morphological and molecular datasets to reciprocally illuminate the evolutionary history of the Paussinae . Using this approach we recognize several larval apomorphies of the tribe Ozaenini : the presence of a transverse keel on the frontoclypeolabrum, a unique setation pattern on the stipes, and urogomphal lobe E divided into two sublobes. Other larval characters are shown to be convergences in taxa which are known to be myrmecophilous: the presence of an elongate galea, a shortened lacinia, a wide labral spine, a short ligula and partial fusion of urogomphal lobes. Future work will include a larval revision and a reassessment of characters and character states in the morphological matrix presented in the last review (DI GIULIO et al. 2003) especially in light of new information in the seven new taxa discovered since that publication.

DI GIULIO A., FATTORINI S., KAUPP A., VIGNA TAGLIANTI A. & NAGEL P. 2003 : Review of competing hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships of Paussinae ( Coleoptera : Carabidae ) based on larval characters. Systematic Entomology 28: 509–537.

DI GIULIO A. & MOORE W. 2004: The first-instar larva of the genus Arthropterus ( Coleoptera : Carabidae : Paussinae ): implications for evolution of myrmecophily and phylogenetic relationships within the subfamily. Invertebrate Systematics 18: 101–115.

DI GIULIO A. & MOORE W. 2009: The first known larva of the Australian genus Mystropomus Chaudoir ( Coleoptera : Carabidae : Paussinae ). Australian Journal of Entomology 48: 140–148.

MOORE W.& DI GIULIO A.2006:Description and behaviour of Goniotropis kuntzeni larvae ( Coleoptera : Carabidae : Paussinae : Ozaenini ) and a key to genera of Paussinae larvae. Zootaxa 111: 1–19.