Eulichadidae

Shepard, William D. & Sites, Robert W., 2019, Aquatic Larvae Of Eulichadidae and Ptilodactylidae (Coleoptera: Byrrhoidea) from Thailand, with Description of the Larva of? Pseudocladotoma Pic, The Coleopterists Bulletin 73 (1), pp. 142-148 : 143

Eulichadidae

The family Eulichadidae comprises two genera: Eulichas Jacobson and Stenocolus LeConte. Stenocolus is monotypic and occurs only in the western USA (Shepard 2002; Richards and Shepard 2017). Eulichas contains more than 40 species distributed from India, throughout the Orient, and in the Philippine Islands, Borneo, and Sumatra (Jäch 1995; Ivie and Jäch 2002; Hájek 2007, 2008, 2009). Adults usually are collected at lights at night, whereas larvae are found in streams under rocks. Most descriptions of Eulichas species have been based on adults taken at lights; thus, little life history information is available. Larvae are described for both Eulichas (Costa and Vanin 1998) and Stenocolus (Lawrence 1991; Shepard 2002). Because of their large size, Eulichas larvae likely are semivoltine (multi-year lifespan). Thus, they should be found in streams year-round. They are easily recognized by their large, gill-shaped osmobranchiae (Richards and Shepard 2017). Some Eulichas larvae have vestigial metathoracic spiracles (see Discussion in Richards and Shepard 2017). The life history of Stenocolus scutellaris LeConte was described by Richards and Shepard (2017). It is likely that the life cycle of Eulichas will be found to be similar, since they are in the same family and occupy the same habitats and microhabitats. A small amount of life history information is available for Eulichas dudgeon Jäch (Costa and Vanin 1998).

Two species of Eulichas were previously known as adults from Thailand, Eulichas haucki Hájek (Loei Province, Phu Kradung National Park) and Eulichas kubani Hájek (Isthmus of Kra) (Hájek 2007, 2008). Here we report a third species, Eulichas birmanica Hájek , from Thailand ( THAILAND: Chiang Mai Province; Doi Inthanon Natl. Park, Namtok Wachiratan, 18°32 ʹ N, 98°35 ʹ E, 650 m, 24 V 2004, MVL, G. W. Courtney - 16, 1♀). An image of an adult female of Eulichas is provided to enable recognition of the genus ( Fig. 1A ). Females are not identifiable to species. This female has the following collection data: THAILAND: Phattalung Province, Khao Ban Tad Wildlife Sanctuary, Namtok Mohm Juey, UV pan trap, 3 June 2004, L- 735, 95 m, 07°15.232 ʹ N 100°02.265 ʹ E, Vitheepradit & Prommi. The adult collection sites are shown in Fig. 5 . Larval Eulichas are easily recognized by their large size and gill-like shape of the osmobranchiae ( Fig. 2 ). Here we report larval Eulichas spp. from many localities.

Figures

Fig. 1. A) Eulichas female (27 mm long), B) Pseudocladotoma maculata (9 mm long).

Fig. 5. Collection localities in Thailand of a larva of?Pseudocladotoma and adult and larval Eulichas species.

Figs. 2–3. 2) Eulichas larva (24.48 mm long) from Mae Pan River in Doi Inthanon National Park, Thailand. The length of this larva is 24.48 mm; 3)?Pseudocladotoma larva (7.80 mm long) from Phrae Province, Wieng Ko Sai National Park, Thailand.