Tropisternus lateralis explained

Tropisternus lateralis is a species of hydrophilid beetle that ranges across much of the Americas.

Description

Adult T. lateralis nimabatus, the subspecies found in the eastern United States, are distinguished by having uniformly dark elytra and pronotum with light-colored borders.

Distribution

The range of T. lateralis includes North America as far north as southern Canada, South America south to northern Chile and Argentina, the Caribbean, and the Galápagos Islands.[1] [2] T. lateralis humeralis has been accidentally introduced to Oahu.[3]

Behavior

T. lateralis exhibits stridulation during stress, calling, and courtship.[4] Eggs are deposited in cases under water, and larvae are fully aquatic. While adults are primarily aquatic, they breathe air and can fly.[1] Adult T. lateralis avoid colonizing and laying egg cases in ponds that contain fish, which are potential predators of all life stages of the beetles.[5]

Subspecies

There are five recognized subspecies of Tropisternus lateralis.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Paul J. . Spangler . Ph.D. . A revision of the genus Tropisternus (Coleoptera:Hydrophilidae) . 1960 . University of Missouri.
  2. Web site: Tropisternus lateralis . Charles Darwin Foundation . July 17, 2015.
  3. Michael . Hansen . A review of the Hawaiian Hydrophilidae (Coleoptera) . Pacific Science . 1995 . 49 . 3 . 266–288.
  4. Lee C. . Ryker . Acoustic behavior of Tropisternus ellipticus, T. columbianus, and T. lateralis limbalis in western Oregon (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) . The Coleopterists Bulletin . 30 . 2 . 147–156 . 1976.
  5. William J. . Resetarits, Jr. . Colonization under threat of predation: avoidance of fish by an aquatic beetle, Tropisternus lateralis (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) . Oecologia . 2001 . 129 . 155–160 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150722001642/http://www.olemiss.edu/resetaritslab/Resetarits2001.pdf . July 22, 2015 . live . 10.1007/s004420100704.
  6. Web site: Tropisternus lateralis (Fabricius, 1775) . ITIS . July 17, 2015.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tropisternus lateralis".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.