The of North Carolina Tropisternus lateralis A Biologist’s Handbook with Standard Taxonomic Effort Levels S. R. Beaty Biological Assessment Unit Division of Water Quality North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Version 2.1 20 October 2011 Table of Contents Families and genera of true aquatic Coleoptera occurring in North Carolina INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................................... ii Adephaga Polyphaga GYRINIDAE HELOPHORIDAE Dineutus ............................................................................ 1 Helophorus ..................................................................... 29 Gyrinus ............................................................................. 1 HYDROCHIDAE Spanglerogyrus* ............................................................... 2 Hydrochus ...................................................................... 30 HALIPLIDAE HYDROPHILIDAE Haliplus ............................................................................ 3 Hydrophilinae Peltodytes.......................................................................... 4 Anacaena ........................................................................ 31 DYTISCIDAE Berosus ........................................................................... 32 Copelatinae Cymbiodyta .................................................................... 32 Copelatus .......................................................................... 5 Derallus .......................................................................... 33 Agabetinae Enochrus ........................................................................ 34 Agabetes............................................................................ 6 Helobata ......................................................................... 35 Laccophilinae Helochares ..................................................................... 35 Laccophilus ....................................................................... 7 Helocombus .................................................................... 36 Hydroporinae Hydrobiomorpha ............................................................ 36 Anodocheilus..................................................................... 8 Hydrobius ....................................................................... 37 Bidessonotus ..................................................................... 8 Hydrochara .................................................................... 37 Celina ............................................................................... 9 Hydrophilus .................................................................... 38 Desmopachria ................................................................... 9 Laccobius ....................................................................... 39 (Heterosternuta).............................................................. 10 Paracymus ...................................................................... 40 Hydrocolus ...................................................................... 10 Sperchopsis .................................................................... 40 Hydroporus ..................................................................... 11 Tropisternus ................................................................... 41 Hydrovatus ...................................................................... 12 PSEPHENIDAE Hygrotus ......................................................................... 12 (Dicranopselaphus) ........................................................ 42 Laccornis ........................................................................ 13 Ectopria .......................................................................... 43 Liodessus ........................................................................ 13 Psephenus ....................................................................... 44 Lioporeus ........................................................................ 14 DRYOPIDAE Neoporus ......................................................................... 15 Helichus ......................................................................... 45 Stictotarsus ..................................................................... 15 SCIRTIDAE Uvarus ............................................................................ 16 Cyphon ........................................................................... 46 Colymbetinae Scirtes ............................................................................. 46 Agabus ............................................................................ 17 ELMIDAE Coptotomus ..................................................................... 17 Ancyronyx ....................................................................... 47 Hoperius ......................................................................... 18 Dubiraphia ..................................................................... 47 Ilybius ............................................................................. 19 Gonielmis ....................................................................... 48 Matus .............................................................................. 19 Macronychus .................................................................. 48 Rhantus ........................................................................... 20 Microcylloepus ............................................................... 49 Dytiscinae Optioservus .................................................................... 49 Acilius ............................................................................. 21 Oulimnius ....................................................................... 50 Cybister ........................................................................... 21 Promoresia ..................................................................... 51 Dytiscus .......................................................................... 22 Stenelmis ........................................................................ 52 (Graphoderus) ................................................................ 22 (Hydaticus) ..................................................................... 23 PTILODACTYLIDAE Prodaticus ....................................................................... 24 Anchytarsus .................................................................... 55 Thermonectus .................................................................. 24 NOTERIDAE Hydrocanthus .................................................................. 26 Notomicrus ...................................................................... 26 Suphis* ........................................................................... 27 Suphisellus ...................................................................... 27 LITERATURE General References ............................................................. ...................................................................................................................... 56 Checklists............................................................................ ...................................................................................................................... 56 TABLE OF CONFIRMED SPECIES i Introduction With 71 genera and over 280 species, North Carolina has a very rich aquatic beetle fauna. Separating this number of beetles from each other can be daunting particularly for biologists as many beetle taxa are very similar to each other. Additionally, important morphological characters can be difficult to observe (e.g. microreticulations, coxal processes, color gradations) due to overall small size of a beetle, species variation, or even the intricacies of simply manipulating a specimen, presenting additional challenges to identification of species. Unlike many other aquatic insects, aquatic Coleoptera typically have multiple life stages occurring below the water surface thereby adding an additional level of complexity to identification. North Carolina’s Division of Water Quality Biological Assessment Unit (BAU) has one of the most rigorous macroinvertebrate sampling protocols in the nation and has over 30 years of long-term data on many North Carolina water bodies. Most large rivers and streams have been sampled extensively over this 30-year period, with many small headwater streams inventoried as well, resulting in over 6600 site records. This has yielded the discovery of several new beetle species from within the state, many of which are endemic to North Carolina. It is our hope that protections to our state’s waters will facilitate the discovery of even more species, help associate life stages of existing species, and protect those species which are vulnerable to habitat loss and water degradation. This document was created to help North Carolina Division of Water Quality biologists as well as biologists in independent labs identify the aquatic beetle taxa present in local North Carolina waters and to stay current on recent taxonomic changes (e.g. synonymies). There are, however, NO keys in this document (although many keys were consulted to generate taxa descriptions). This manual also provides information about beetle distributions within North Carolina’s Level III ecoregions (BAU has historically recognized three