Quick guide to New Zealand aquatic Coleoptera families (larvae) 05/12

Prepared by Brian Smith (2007)

Curculionidae

YES
Is the body pale,
grub-like & lacking terminal
thoracic legs? hooks
shape? Gyrinidae

NO
YES note: Gyrinidae larva from Fiji

Does each tarsus Are abdominal gills present,

have two claws? & does abdominal segment
YES 10 have 2 pairs of terminal
hooks?

NO
NO
abdominal gills & abdominal
terminal hooks absent
Dytiscidae
see separate
quick guide

Are the antennae

much longer
YES Scirtidae
than head, & the
body slater-like?

flattened plate

NO
Ptilodactylidae
YES

larva generally orange to brownish

Is the body distinctly Does the last abdominal segment

rounded in cross-
YES form a flattened plate?
section?

NO
larva blackish,
sometimes with pale Elmidae
NO inter-segmental
banding

Are the mandibles prominent &

easily seen from above, & the Hydrophilidae
YES see separate
abdomen 8-segmented (lateral
gills may be present)? quick guide

NO
Hydraenidae
larva small, not fully
aquatic, associated YES
with wetted stream
margins
Is the larva minute (<4
mm) & terminal hooks
present on abdominal
Staphylinidae
segment 10?
Reference:
Delgado, J. A.; Palma, R. L. 1998: Larval stages of three Meropathus species (Coleoptera:
Hydraenidae: Ochthebiinae) from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 25: 409–419.
This Quick guide was funded by Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity
Information System (TFBIS) programme number 194. Staphylinidae figures by Alexey Yu, http://www.fieldmuseum.org/peet_staph/whatisstaph.html.
Reproduced with permission.