Abstract

LIBONATTI, María L.; MICHAT, Mariano C.  and  TORRES, Patricia L. M.. Key to the subfamilies, tribes and genera of adult Dytiscidae of Argentina (Coleoptera: Adephaga). Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent. [online]. 2011, vol.70, n.3-4, pp.317-336. ISSN 0373-5680.

Dytiscids constitute the world's most speciose family of water beetles, whose identifi cation in Argentina is problematic with current keys. In this work, a key (both in English and Spanish) to the eight subfamilies, 16 tribes and 31 genera of adult Dytiscidae of Argentina is presented. The key was constructed using stable qualitative characters of the external morphology and chaetotaxy, easily visualizable and interpretable. Characters such as size and shape of the body, color pattern and geographic distribution were also used. Illustrations of a great number of morphological structures as well as SEM micrographs were included to aid in the interpretation of the text. One subfamily (Hydrodytinae) and fi ve genera (Agaporomorphus Zimmermann, Bidessodes Régimbart, Hydrodytes Miller, Queda Sharp and an unpublished genus of the subfamily Laccophilinae) are cited for the fi rst time for Argentina.

Keywords : Dytiscidae; Diving beetles; Adults; Key; Argentina.

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