Limnichidae

Limnichus australis, from Insects of Tasmania.

Belongs within: Byrrhoidea.

The Limnichidae are a group of very small beetles often found in riparian habitats (Lawrence & Britton 1991).

Characters (from Lawrence & Britton 1991): Very small, oval and moderately convex beetles, clothed with decumbent, erect or occasionally minute and pruinose vestiture. Antennae eleven-segmented with three- or four-segmented club, usually slender; frontoclypeal suture present; body with ventral cavities into which legs can be folded; prosternum elongate, extending well in front of coxae; fore coxae transverse, trochantins exposed, coxal cavities externally and internally open; mid coxal cavities widely separated, laterally open; transverse metasternal suture usually present; tarsi usually five-segmented, rarely four-segmented; abdomen with five visible ventrites, three to five connate. Larvae cylindrical, maxillolabial complex consolidated, so cardines are contiguous, maxillary articulating areas absent, postmentum joined to stipites for most of its length.

<==Limnichidae
    |--Babalimnichus B14
    |--Pseudeucinetus LB91
    |--Limnichus KB11
    |    |--L. australis LB91
    |    `--L. pygmaeus KB11
    |--Paralimnichus LB91
    |--Byrrhinus LB91
    |--Hyphalus [Hyphalinae] B14
    |    `--H. insularis Britton 1971 B14
    `--Mexico [Thaumastodinae] B14
         |--M. litoralis B14
         `--M. morrisoni Skelley 2005 B14

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B14] Bouchard, P. (ed.) 2014. The Book of Beetles: A lifesize guide to six hundred of nature's gems. Ivy Press: Lewes (United Kingdom).

[KB11] Kundrata, R., & L. Bocak. 2011. The phylogeny and limits of Elateridae (Insecta, Coleoptera): is there a common tendency of click beetles to soft-bodiedness and neoteny? Zoologica Scripta 40: 364–378.

[LB91] Lawrence, J. F., & E. B. Britton. 1991. Coleoptera (beetles). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 543–683. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).