Miller et al. 2007

Miller KB, Alarie Y, Whiting MF. 2007. Description of the larva of Notaticus fasciatus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) associated with adults using DNA sequence data. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 100: 787-797.

These authors were able to associate some larvae collected in French Guiana to a species widespread in lowland South America that did not previously have described larvae. This represents the first description of larvae of the tribe Aubehydrini, though this tribe contains only one described genus with two possibly synonymous species. This is the last tribe in the subfamily Dytiscinae to be so described.

The general methods closely follow those of Miller et al. (2005), though there is little in the way of phylogenetic discussion because, as stated by the authors, this work forms part of the basis of ongoing and future projects to examine dytiscine phylogeny in detail.

The larvae were clearly identified as belonging to the genus Notaticus, and are most likely members of the species N. fasciatus, with sequence differences well below the usual 2% threshold relative to adults of that species. However, the adults used in the comparison came from geographically distant populations in Bolivia, and the sequences of the larvae are sister to the sequences of the adults, rather than nested within in the cladogram. Thus, it is possible though unlikely that these larvae are actually members of a different species within the genus, either N. confusus or some as-yet-undescribed species. In addition, the adults that have been described of the two species of Notaticus are morphologically very similar, and may actually represent members of one species.