Agabus (beetle)

Agabus
A. uliginosus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Dytiscidae
Tribe: Agabini
Genus: Agabus
Leach, 1817

Agabus is a large genus of predatory aquatic beetles in the family Dytiscidae, proposed in 1817 by William Elford Leach[1] and named after Agabus, an early follower of Christianity. The adult beetles are moderate-sized, 5 to 14 mm long. The genus is primarily Holarctic in distribution, with only a few species known from the Afrotropical and Neotropical realms.[2][3] Three species of Agabus, namely A. clypealis,[4] A. discicollis[5] and A. hozgargantae[6] are endangered according to the IUCN Red List. The division into subgenera is not widely accepted. However, a number of species groups are recognized after the works of David J. Larson and Anders N. Nilsson.[3] The genus is probably polyphyletic or paraphyletic.[2] In a recent study of mitochondrial DNA, Agabus was found paraphyletic with respect to several of the species groups of Platambus, a closely related genus in the tribe Agabini.[7] Lately the taxonomy of the genus has been revised, and some groups of species were transferred from Agabus sensu stricto to other genera in the tribe Agabini.[8]

Agabus contains the following species:[9]

  1. ^ Zool. Misc., 3: 69, 72. Type species: Agabus paykullii Leach, 1817 (= Dytiscus serricornis Paykull, 1799)
  2. ^ a b Ross H. Arnett, Michael C. Thomas (2002). American Beetles: Staphyliniformi. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. ISBN 0849319250. P. 175-176.
  3. ^ a b Anders N. Nilsson, Mogens Holmen (1995). The Aquatic Adephaga (Coleoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark: II - Dytiscidea. Leiden - a.o.: Brill. ISBN 9004104569. P. 87.
  4. ^ Foster, G. 1996. Agabus clypealis. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Accessed on 28 November 2008.
  5. ^ Foster, G. 1996. Agabus discicollis. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Accessed on 28 November 2008.
  6. ^ Foster, G. 1996. Agabus hozgargantae. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Accessed on 28 November 2008.
  7. ^ Ignacio Ribera, Anders N. Nilsson, Alfried P. Vogler (2004). Phylogeny and historical biogeography of Agabinae diving beetles (Coleoptera) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30 (3): 545-562.
  8. ^ Nilsson, A.N. (June 2000). "A new view on the generic classification of the Agabus-group of genera of the Agabini, aimed at solving the problem with a paraphyletic Agabus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae)". Koleopterologische Rundschau. 70: 17–36.
  9. ^ Dytiscidae Species List at Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog. Texas A&M University. Retrieved on 7 May 2012.