Copelatus is a large genus of small diving beetles. There are some 470 described species in the genus, found worldwide, but they are most diverse in tropical South America, Africa and South-East Asia. Copelatus are often black or brown in color, many species of Copelatus possessing visible longitudinal furrows down the dorsal side of the wings of both sexes.[2]

Copelatus
Temporal range: Eocene[1] – present
Copelatus biroi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Dytiscidae
Subfamily: Copelatinae
Tribe: Copelatini
Genus: Copelatus
Erichson, 1832

Systematics edit

The genus Copelatus is divided into several subgenera (Colepatus, Papuadytes etc.), some of which are sometimes treated as separate genera. It may be paraphyletic with respect to the smaller Copelatinae genera Lacconectus and Aglymbus.[2] The species include:[3]

Species edit

References edit

  1. ^ Miller,K.B, Blake,M. The unusual occurrence of aquatic beetles in amber, copelatus aphroditae balke, n. sp. and C. predaveterus miller, n. sp., (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Copelatinae). Proc. of the Entomological Society of Washington, 2003, vol. 105, no4, pp. 809–815
  2. ^ a b Balke,M et al., MtDNA phylogeny and biogeography of Copelatinae, a highly diverse group of tropical diving beetles (Dytiscidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution Vol. 32, Issue 3, 2004
  3. ^ Nilsson, A. N.; Hájek, J. (2023). "A World Catalogue of the Family Dytiscidae, or the Diving Beetles (Coleoptera, Adephaga)" (PDF).

External links edit