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Among the hundreds of thousands of species of beetles, there is one family, containing some 4,300 species, that stands out as one of the most diverse and important groups of aquatic predatory insects. This is the Dytiscidae, whose species are commonly known as diving beetles. No comprehensive treatment of this group has been compiled in over 130 years, a period during which a great many changes in classification and a near quadrupling of known species has occurred.
In Diving Beetles of the World, Kelly B. Miller and Johannes Bergsten provide the only full treatments of all 186 Dytiscid genera ever assembled. Entomologists, systematists, limnologists, ecologists, and others with an interest in aquatic systems or insect diversity will find these extensively illustrated keys and taxon accounts immensely helpful. The keys make it possible to identify all taxa from subfamily to genera, and each key and taxon treatment is accompanied by both photographs and detailed pen-and-ink drawings of diagnostic features.
Every genus account covers body length, diagnostic characters, classification, species diversity, a review of known natural history, and world distribution. Each account is also accompanied by a range map and at least one high-resolution habitus image of a specimen. Diving beetles are fast becoming important models for aquatic ecology, world biogeography, population ecology, and animal sexual evolution and, with Diving Beetles of the World, the diversity of the group is finally accessible.
Preface vii
1. Introduction 1
2. Taxonomy and Morphology 21
3. Keys to Major Groups
Subfamilies, Adults 39
Subfamilies, Larvae 43
Subterranean & Terrestrial Genera 45
4. Subfamily Matinae 50
5. Subfamily Lancetinae 53
6. Subfamily Agabinae 55
7. Tribe Hydrotrupini 57
8. Tribe Agabini 62
9. Subfamily Colymbetinae 69
10. Subfamily Copelatinae 78
11. Subfamily Laccophilinae 87
12. Tribe Agabetini 89
13. Tribe Laccophilini 91
14. Subfamily Cybistrinae 103
15. Subfamily Dytiscinae 111
16. Tribe Dytiscini 114
17. Tribe Hydaticini 118
18. Tribe Aubehydrini 121
19. Tribe Eretini 123
20. Tribe Aciliini 125
21. Subfamily Coptotominae 133
22. Subfamily Hydrodytinae 135
23. Subfamily Hydroporinae 138
24. Tribe Laccornini 145
25. Tribe Laccornellini 147
26. Tribe Hydroporini 150
27. Subtribe Hydroporina 154
28. Subtribe Deronectina 162
29. Subtribe Siettitiina 172
30. Subtribe Sternopriscina 180
31. Tribe Vatellini 190
32. Tribe Methlini 194
33. Tribe Hydrovatini 196
34. Tribe Pachydrini 199
35. Tribe Hygrotini 201
36. Tribe Hyphydrini 207
37. Tribe Bidessini 219
Literature Cited 260
Index 307
Kelly B. Miller is an associate professor in the Biology Department at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, where he is also a curator at the Museum of Southwestern Biology. Johannes Bergsten is a senior curator at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm.
"Entomologists, systematists, limnologists, ecologists, and others with an interest in aquatic systems or insect diversity will find these extensively illustrated keys and taxon accounts immensely helpful [...] Diving beetles are fast becoming important models for aquatic ecology, world biogeography, population ecology, and animal sexual evolution and, with this book, the diversity of the group is finally accessible."
– The Birdbook Report
