MOLECULAR SYSTEMATICS OF THE NEOTROPICAL DIVING BEETLE GENUS RUGOSUS GARCIA, 2001 (COLEOPTERA: DYTISCIDAE: COPELATINAE)

摘要

In recent years, several new genera have been erected in the subfamily Copelatinae, including the description of endemic taxa from Madagascar, New Guinea, South Africa, and Venezuela. Here we build upon a recent molecular phylogeny of this subfamily to investigate the phylogenetic placement of Rugosus Garcia, 2001, a genus comprising two species from the Guiana Shield region of Venezuela. We sequenced one mitochondrial and one nuclear gene fragment of Rugosus emarginatus Garcia, as well as a specimen of Aglymbus leprieurii Aube from Guyana in order to reassess the phylogenetic placement of the genus in the subfamily Copelatinae. Bayesian Inference analyses unambiguously indicate that Rugosus is nested within Aglymbus Sharp, 1880. As a result, Rugosus is synonymized with Aglymbus. Based on these results and on recent collecting data, the distribution of Aglymbus now includes Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. High-resolution images of the holotype specimens and labels of Aglymbus emarginatus (Garcia), new combination and Aglymbus pubis (Garcia), new combination are provided, as well as comments on the habitat of species in the "A. leprieurii species-group" of Aglymbus.