Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Unique Australian Subterranean Dytiscidae: Diversity, Biology, and Evolution

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Ecology, Systematics, and the Natural History of Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae)

Abstract

The western half of the Australian arid zone harbours the richest diversity of obligate subterranean dytiscids in the world, which are found in isolated calcrete (carbonate) aquifers. Each calcrete usually supports from one to three beetle species that are locally endemic to a specific calcrete, and display the full array of adaptations to living in a permanently dark, aquatic environment. The origin of this dytiscid diversity likely dates back to the late Miocene to Pliocene when central and western Australia was dominated by a more benign, mesic environment. Subsequent aridification led to relictualisation of the fauna to the calcrete aquifers which, because of their physical isolation from each other, have been described as ‘islands under the desert’. Here we provide an overview of this remarkable fauna of dytiscids, and outline what is currently known about their diversity, life history, respiratory physiology, modes of speciation, population biology, and outline their conservation issues and areas for future research.

Only recently […] have biologists had access to the vast array of Darwin’s “endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful” for in-depth genetic investigations of development, physiology, and evolution. John H. Postlethwait (Postlethwait 2015).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alarie Y, Michat MC, Watts CHS (2009) Larval morphology of Paroster Sharp, 1882 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Hydroporinae): Reinforcement of the hypothesis of monophyletic origin and discussion of phenotypic accommodation to a hypogaeic environment. Zootaxa 2274:1–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allford A, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Austin AD (2008) Diversity and distribution of groundwater fauna in a limestone aquifer: does sampling alter the story? Invertebr Syst 22:127–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arakel AV (1996) Quaternary vadose calcretes revisited. J Aust Geol Geophys 16:223–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Arakel AV, Jacobson G, Lyons WB (1990) Sediment water interaction as a control on geochemical evolution of playa lake systems in the Australian arid interior. Hydrobiology 197:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balke M, Watts CHS, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Vogler AP (2004) A highly modified stygobitic diving beetle of the genus Copelatus (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae): taxonomy and cladistic analysis based on mtDNA sequences. Syst Entomol 29:59–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barr TC (1968) Cave ecology and the evolution of troglobites. Evol Biol 2:35–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Barr TC, Holsinger JR (1985) Speciation in cave faunas. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 16:313–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barranco P, Harvey MS (2008) The first indigenous palpigrade from Australia: a new species of Eukoenenia (Palpigradi: Eukoeneniidae). Invertebr Syst 22:227–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop RE, Humphreys WF, Longley G (2014) Epigean and hypogean Palaemonetes sp. (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) from Edwards Aquifer: An examination of trophic structure and metabolism. Subter Biol 14:79–102. (Corrigendum: Subter Biol 15:105–106)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradford T, Adams M, Humphreys WF, Austin AD, Cooper SJB (2010) DNA barcoding of stygofauna uncovers cryptic amphipod diversity in a calcrete aquifer in Western Australia’s arid zone. Molec Ecol Res 10:41–50

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bradford TM, Adams M, Guzik MT, Humphreys WF, Austin AD, Cooper SJB (2013) Patterns of population genetic variation in sympatric chiltoniid amphipods within a calcrete aquifer reveal a dynamic subterranean environment. Heredity 111:77–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bradford T, Humphreys W, Austin A, Cooper SJB (2014) Identification of trophic niches of subterranean diving beetles in a calcrete aquifer by DNA and stable isotope analyses. Mar Freshw Res 65:95–104

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne M, Yeates DK, Joseph L, Kearney M, Bowler J, Williams MA, Cooper SJB, Donnellan SC, Keogh S, Leijs R, Melville J, Murphy D, Porch N, Wyrwoll K-H (2008) Birth of a biome: synthesizing environmental and molecular studies of the assembly and maintenance of the Australian arid zone biota. Mol Ecol 17:4398–4417

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Calosi P, Bilton DT, Spicer JI (2007) The diving response of a diving beetle: effects of temperature and acidification. J Zool 273:289–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camacho AI, Mas-Peinado P, Iepure S, Perina G, Beatriz A, Dorda BA, Casado A, Rey I (2020) Novel sexual dimorphism in a new genus of Bathynellidae from Russia, with a revision of phylogenetic relationships. Zool Scripta 49:47–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho J-L, Humphreys WF (2010) Ten new species of the genus Brevisomabathynella Cho, Park and Ranga Reddy, (2006) (Malacostraca, Bathynellacea, Parabathynellidae) from Western Australia. J Nat Hist 44:993–1079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho J-L, Park J-G, Humphreys WF (2005) A new genus and six new species of the Parabathynellidae (Bathynellacea, Syncarida) from the Kimberley Region, Western Australia. J Nat Hist 39:2225–2255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho J-L, Humphreys WF, Lee S-D (2006) Phylogenetic relationships within the genus Atopobathynella Schminke, 1973 (Bathynellacea, Parabathynellidae): with the description of six new species from Western Australia. Invertebr Syst 20:9–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chown SL, Marais E, Terblanche JS, Klok CJ, Lighton JRB, Blackburn TM (2007) Scaling of insect metabolic rate is inconsistent with the nutrient supply network model. Funct Ecol 21:282–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper SJB, Hinze S, Leys R, Watts CHS, Humphreys W (2002) Islands under the desert: molecular systematics and evolutionary origins of stygobitic water beetles (Coleoptera; Dytiscidae) from central Western Australia. Invertebr Syst 16:589–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper SJB, Saint KM, Taiti S, Austin AD, Humphreys WF (2008) Subterranean archipelago II: mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of stygobitic isopods (Oniscidea: Haloniscus) from the Yilgarn region of Western Australia. Invertebr Syst 22:195–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Culver DC (1982) Cave life: evolution and ecology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, p 189

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Culver DC, Poulson TL (1971) Oxygen consumption and activity in closely related amphipod populations from cave and surface habitats. Am Midl Nat 85:74–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department of the Environment (2014) Introduction to national ecological communities endemic to Western Australia. (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia, Parkes, ACT

    Google Scholar 

  • Eberhard SM, Halse SA, Williams MA, Scanlon MD, Cocking J, Barron HJ (2009) Exploring the relationship between sampling efficiency and short-range endemism for groundwater fauna in the Pilbara region, Western Australia. Freshw Biol 54:885–901

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ege R (1915) On the respiratory function of the air stores carried by some aquatic insects (Corixidae, Dytiscidae and Notonecta). Zeit Allgem Physiol 17:81–124

    Google Scholar 

  • English P, Spooner NA, Chappell J, Questiaux DG, Hill NG (2001) Lake Lewis basin, central Australia: environmental evolution and OSL chronology. Quatern Int 83–85:81–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erlandsson J, Rolán-Alvarez E (1998) Sexual selection and assortative mating by size and their roles in the maintenance of a polymorphism in Swedish Littorina saxatilis populations. In: O’Riordan RM, Burnell GM, Davies MS, Ramsay NF (eds), Aspects of Littorinid Biology. Proceedings of the fifth international symposium on littorinid biology, Cork, Ireland, 7–13 September 1996. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 59–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert M (1986) The respiratory system and respiratory technique of Hydroporus palustris (L.) (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae). Entomol Basil 11:43–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Guzik MT, Abrams KM, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Cho J-L, Austin A (2008) Phylogeography of the ancient Parabathynellidae (Crustacea: Bathynellacea) from the Yilgarn region of Western Australia. Subterranean Connections Invertebr Syst 22:205–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guzik MT, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Austin AD (2009) Fine-scale comparative phylogeography of a sympatric sister species triplet of subterranean diving beetles from a single calcrete aquifer in Western Australia. Mol Ecol 18:3683–3698

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guzik MT, Austin AD, Cooper SJB, Harvey MS, Humphreys WF, Bradford T, Eberhard SM, King RA, Leijs R, Muirhead KA, Tomlinson M (2010) Is the Australian subterranean invertebrate fauna uniquely diverse? Invertebr Syst 24:407–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guzik MT, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Ong S, Kawakami T, Austin AD (2011) Evidence for population fragmentation within a subterranean aquatic habitat in the Western Australian desert. Heredity 107:215–230

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guzik MT, Stringer DN, Murphy NP, Cooper SJB, Taiti S, King RA, Humphreys WF, Austin AD (2019) Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Australian arid-zone oniscidean isopods (Crustacea: Haloniscus) reveals strong regional endemicity and new putative species. Invertebr Syst 33:556–574

    Google Scholar 

  • Guzik MT, Stevens MI, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Austin AD (2021) Extreme genetic diversity among springtails (Collembola) in subterranean calcretes of arid Australia. Genome 64(3):181–195

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison S, Guzik MT, Harvey MS, Austin AD (2014) Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Western Australian troglobitic chthoniid pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpiones, Chthoniidae) points to multiple independent subterranean clades. Invertebr Syst 28:386–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey MS (2002) Short-range endemism among the Australian fauna: some examples from non-marine environments. Invertebr Syst 16:555–570

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey MS, Rix MG, Framenau VW, Hamilton ZR, Johnson MS, Teale RJ, Humphreys G, Humphreys WF (2011) Protecting the innocent: studying short-range endemic taxa enhances conservation outcomes. Invertebr Syst 25:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hervant F, Mathieu J, Messana G (1998) Oxygen consumption and ventilation in declining oxygen tension and posthypoxic recovery in epigean and hypogean crustaceans. J Crust Biol 18:717–727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoenemann M, Neiber MT, Humphreys WF, Iliffe TM, Li D, Schram FR, Koenemann S (2013) Phylogenetic analysis and systematic revision of Remipedia (Nectiopoda) from Bayesian analysis of molecular data. J Crust Biol 33:603–619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howarth FG (1986) The tropical cave environment and the evolution of troglobites. In: Proceedings of the 9th Congreso Internacional de Espeleología, Barcelona, España, pp 153–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth FG (1987) The evolution of non-relictual tropical troglobites. Int J Speleol 16:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys WF (2001) Groundwater calcrete aquifers in the Australian arid zone: the context to an unfolding plethora of stygal biodiversity. Rec W Aust Mus Suppl 64:63–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys WF (2008) Rising from down under: developments in subterranean biodiversity in Australia from a groundwater fauna perspective. Invertebr Syst 22:85–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys WF, Watts CHS, Cooper S, Leys R (2009) Groundwater estuaries of salt lakes: buried pools of endemic biodiversity on the western plateau, Australia. Hydrobiology 626:79–95

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hüppop K (1985) The role of metabolism in the evolution of cave animals. NSS Bull 47:136–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyde J, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Austin AD, Munguia P (2018) Diversity patterns of subterranean invertebrate fauna in calcretes of the Yilgarn Region, Western Australia. Mar Freshw Res 69:114–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Javidkar M, Cooper SJB, King R, Humphreys WF, Bertozzi T, Stevens MI, Austin AD (2016) Molecular systematics and biodiversity of oniscidean isopods in the groundwater calcretes of central Western Australia. Mol Phylogenet Evol 104:83–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Javidkar M, King R, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Austin AD (2017) Taxonomy of Paraplatyarthrus Javidkar and King (Isopoda: Oniscidea: Paraplatyarthridae) with description of five new species from Western Australia, and an assessment of Australian Trichorhina Budde-Lunde, 1908 (Platyarthridae). Zootaxa 4243:401–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Javidkar M, King R, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, King RA, Judd S, Austin AD (2018) Biogeographic history of subterranean isopods from groundwater calcrete islands in Western Australia. Zool Scripta 47:206–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeffery WR (2005) Adaptive evolution of eye degeneration in the Mexican blind cavefish. J Hered 96:85–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones KK, Hetz SK, Seymour RS (2017) The effects of temperature, activity and convection on the plastron PO 2 of the aquatic bug Aphelocheirus aestivalis (Hemiptera; Aphelocheiridae). J Insect Physiol 106:155–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones KK, Cooper SJB, Seymour RS (2019) Cutaneous respiration by diving beetles from underground aquifers of Western Australia (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). J Exp Biol 222:jeb196659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kehl S (2014) Respiration and tracheal system. In: Yee DA (ed) Ecology, systematics and the natural history of predaceous diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). Dordrecht: Springer, pp 189–198, p 462

    Google Scholar 

  • Kehl S, Dettner K (2009) Surviving submerged—Setal tracheal gills for gas exchange in adult rheophilic diving beetles. J Morphol 270:1348–1355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langille BL (2019) Regressive evolution of vision and speciation in the subterranean diving beetles from Western Australia. Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Adelaide

    Google Scholar 

  • Langille BL, Hyde J, Saint KM, Bradford TM, Stringer DN, Tierney SM, Humphreys WF, Austin AD, Cooper SJB (2021) Evidence for speciation underground in diving beetles (Dytiscidae) from a subterranean archipelago. Evolution 75(1):166–175

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Langille BL, Tierney SM, Bertozzi T, Beasley-Hall PG, Bradford TM, Fagan-Jeffries EP, Hyde J, Leijs R, Richardson M, Saint KM, Stringer DN, Villastrigo A, Humphreys WF, Austin AD, Cooper SJB (2022) Parallel decay of vision genes in subterranean water beetles. Mol Phylogenet Evol 73:107522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larson DJ (1994) Boongurrus rivulus, a new genus and species of water beetle (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Bidessini) from Northern Queensland, Australia. Aust J Entomol 33:217–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leijs R, van Nes EH, Watts CHS, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF, Hogendoorn K (2012) Evolution of blind beetles in isolated aquifers: a test of alternative modes of speciation. PLoS ONE 7:e34260

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leys R, Watts CH (2008) Systematics and evolution of the Australian subterranean hydroporine diving beetles (Dytiscidae), with notes on Carabhydrus. Invertebr Syst 22:217–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leys R, Watts CHS, Cooper SJB, Humphreys WF (2003) Evolution of subterranean diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Hydroporini, Bidessini) in the arid zone of Australia. Evolution 57:2819–2834

    Google Scholar 

  • Leys R, Cooper SJB, Strecker U, Wilkens H (2005) Regressive evolution of an eye pigment gene in independently evolved eyeless subterranean diving beetles. Biol Lett 1:496–499

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leys R, Roudnew B, Watts CHS (2010) Paroster extraordinarius sp. nov., a new ground-water diving beetle from the Flinders Ranges, with notes on other diving beetles from gravels in South Australia. Aust J Entomol 49:66–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu G, Bernatchez L (1999) Correlated trophic specialization and genetic divergence in sympatric lake whitefish ecotypes (Coregonus clupeaformis): support for the ecological speciation hypothesis. Evolution 53:1491–1505

    Google Scholar 

  • Madsen BL (2012) Submersion respiration in small diving beetles (Dytiscidae). Aquat Insect 34:57–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malard F, Hervant F (1999) Oxygen supply and the adaptations of animals in groundwater. Freshw Biol 41:1–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mammola S, Amorim IR, Bichuette ME, Borges PAV, Cheeptham N, Cooper SJB, Culver DC, Deharveng L, Eme D, Ferreira RL, Fišer C, Fišer Ž, Fong DW, Griebler C, Jeffery WR, Jogovic J, Kowalko JE, Lilley TM, Malard F, Manenti R, Martínez A, Meierhofer MB, Niemiller ML, Northup DE, Pellegrini TG, Pipan T, Protas M, Reboleira ASPS, Venarsky MP, Wynne JJ, Zagmajster M, Cardoso P (2020) Fundamental research questions in subterranean biology. Biol Rev 95:1855–1872

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mann AW, Deutscher RL (1978) Hydrogeochemistry of a calcrete-containing aquifer near Lake Way, Western Australia. J Hydrol 38:357–377

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mann AW, Horwitz RC (1979) Groundwater calcrete deposits in Australia: some observations from Western Australia. J Geol Soc Aust 26:293–303

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews EF, Abrams KM, Cooper SJB, Huey JA, Hillyer MJ, Humphreys WF, Austin AD, Guzik MT (2020) Scratching the surface of subterranean biodiversity: molecular analysis reveals a diverse and previously unknown fauna of Parabathynellidae (Crustacea: Bathynellacea) from the Pilbara, Western Australia. Mol Phylogenet Evol 142:106643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michat MC, Alarie Y, Watts CHS (2010) Description of the first instar larva of the hypogenic species Neobidessodes limestoneensis (Watts & Humphreys) and of the third-instar larva of Hydroglyphus balkei Hendrich (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Bidessini) with phylogenetic considerations. Zootaxa 2658:38–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michat MC, Alarie Y, Watts CHS (2012) Phylogenetic relationships and comparative larval morphology of epigean and stygobitic species of Limbodessus Guignot, 1939 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Bidessini), with a key of identification. Zootaxa 3584:1–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller KB, Bergsten J (2016) Diving beetles of the world: systematics and biology of the Dytiscidae. JHU Press, Baltimore, MD, p 320

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran D, Softley R, Warrant EJ (2015) The energetic cost of vision and the evolution of eyeless Mexican cavefish. Sci Adv 1:e1500363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan KH (1993) Development, sedimentation and economic potential of palaeoriver systems of the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia. Sed Geol 85:637–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ordish RG (1976) Two new genera and species of subterranean water beetle from New Zealand (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). New Zeal J Zool 3:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Postlethwait JH (2015) “Wrecks of Ancient Life”: Genetic variants vetted by natural selection. Genetics 200:675–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poulson TL, Lavoie KH (2000) The trophic basis of subsurface ecosystems. In: Wilkens H, Culver DC, Humphreys WF (eds) Subterranean ecosystems. Ecosystems of the world, vol 30. Elsevier, p 791

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahn H, Paganelli CV (1968) Gas exchange in gas gills of diving insects. Respir Physiol 5:145–164

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reinhold K (1999) Energetically costly behaviour and the evolution of resting metabolic rate in insects. Funct Ecol 13:217–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice W, Salt G (1990) The evolution of reproductive isolation as a correlated character under sympatric conditions: experimental evidence. Evolution 44:1140–1152

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouch R, Danielopol DL (1987) L’origine de la faune aquatique souterraine, entre le paradigme du refuge et le modéle de la colonisation active. Stygologia 3:345–372

    Google Scholar 

  • Saccò M, Blyth A, Humphreys W, Bateman B, Kliti Grice K. (2017) Biogeochemical controls on invertebrate biodiversity and trophic relationships within calcrete aquifers in the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia. 2016 TIGeR (The Institute for Geoscience Research) Conference: Rock alteration in the upper crust: Element mobility and concentration. 26–28 September. Curtin University

    Google Scholar 

  • Saccò M, Blyth A, Humphreys W, Kuhl A, Mazumder D, Smith C, Grice K (2019) Elucidating stygofaunal trophic web interactions via isotopic ecology. PLoS One 14:e0223982

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saccò M, Blyth A, Bateman PW, Humphreys WF, Cooper SJB, Meredith K, Karasiewicz S, Laini A, Grice K (2020a) Stygofaunal community trends along varied rainfall conditions: deciphering ecological niche dynamics of a shallow calcrete in Western Australia. Ecohydrology 13:e2150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saccò M, Blyth AJ, Humphreys WF, Cooper SJB, Austin AD, Hyde J, Kuhl A, Mazumder D, Hua Q, Smith C, Grice K (2020b) Refining trophic dynamics through multi-factor Bayesian mixing models: a case study of subterranean beetles. Ecol Evol 10:8815–8826

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saccò M, Blyth AJ, Humphreys WF, Middleton JA, White NE, Campbell M, Mousavi-Derazmahalleh M, Laini A, Hua Q, Meredith K, Cooper SJB, Griebler C, Grierson P, Grice K (2020c) Tracking down carbon inputs underground from an arid zone Australian calcrete. PLoS One 15(8):e0237730

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saccò M, Blyth AJ, Humphreys WF, Cooper SJB, White NE, Campbell M, Mousavi-Derazmahalleh M, Hua Q, Mazumder D, Smith C, Griebler C, Grice K (2021) Rainfall as a trigger of ecological cascade effects in an Australian groundwater ecosystem. Sci Rep 11:3694

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sbordoni V (1982) Advances in speciation of cave animals. A.R. Liss, New York, pp 219–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Seymour RS, Matthews PGD (2013) Physical gills in diving insects and spiders: theory and experiment. J Exp Biol 216:164–170

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seymour RS, Jones KK, Hetz SK (2015) Respiratory function of the plastron in the aquatic bug Aphelocheirus aestivalis (Hemiptera, Aphelocheiridae). J Exp Biol 218:2840–2846

    Google Scholar 

  • Smrž J (1981) Respiration – a new function of some hydroporine elytra (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Hydroporinae). Acta Entomol Bohem 78:209–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Sniderman JK, Woodhead JD, Hellstrom J, Jordan GJ, Drysdale RN, Tyler JJ, Porch N (2016) Pliocene reversal of late Neogene aridification. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113:1999–2004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorpe WH, Crisp DJ (1947) Studies on plastron respiration II. The respiratory efficiency of the plastron in Aphelocheirus. J Expl Biol 24:270–303

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tierney SM, Cooper SJB, Saint KM, Bertozzi T, Hyde J, Humphreys WF, Austin AD (2015) Opsin transcripts of predatory diving beetles: a comparison of surface and subterranean photic niches. R Soc Open Sci 2:140386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tierney SM, Langille B, Humphreys WF, Austin AD, Cooper SJB (2018) Massive parallel regression: genetic mechanisms for vision loss amongst subterranean diving beetles. Int Comp Biol 58:465–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ueno SI (1957) Blind aquatic beetles of Japan, with some accounts of the fauna of Japanese subterranean waters. Archiv Hydrobiol 53:250–296

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts CHS, Humphreys WF (2004) Thirteen new Dytiscidae (Coleoptera) of the genera Boongurrus Larson, Tjirtudessus Watts & Humphreys and Nirripirti Watts & Humphreys, from underground waters in Australia. Trans R Soc S Aust 128:99–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts CHS, Humphreys WF (2006) Twenty-six new Dytiscidae (Coleoptera) of the genera Limbodessus Guignot and Nirripirti Watts & Humphreys, from underground waters in Australia. Trans R Soc S Aust 130:123–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts CHS, Humphreys WF (2009) Fourteen new Dytiscidae (Coleoptera) of the genera Limbodessus Guignot, Paroster Sharp, and Exocelina Broun from underground waters in Australia. Trans R Soc S Aust 133:62–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts CHS, Hendrich L, Balke M (2016) A new interstitial species of diving beetle from tropical northern Australia provides a scenario for the transition of epigean to stygobitic life (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae, Copelatinae). Subterr Biol 19:23–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkens H (2020) The role of selection in the evolution of blindness in cave fish. Biol J Linn Soc 130:421–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank our many colleagues, too numerous to name, who have contributed to collections of the stygofauna and research on the beetles. Special mention should be given to Remko Leijs, who pioneered early research work on the beetles, Julianne Waldock for assistance with collections, Kathleen Saint, Simon Tierney, past PhD students Tessa Bradford, Josephine Hyde and Barbara Langille for contributing much of the DNA-based research, the Axford family for their support and allowing us access to the Sturt Meadows Pastoral Property, and Mattia Saccò and Howard Hamon for assistance with figures. Funding for our research has been provided by several Australian Research Council grants (DP120102132, DP180103851, LP 100200494 and LP140100555), the Australian Biological Resources Study and National Geographic. We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by various collaborating organisations and industry partners: Minara Resources Limited, the Western Australian Museum, the South Australian Museum, Biota Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd, Bennelongia Pty Ltd, Rio Tinto, BHP, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (WA) (formerly Department of Parks and Wildlife), and Bioplatforms Australia.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Andrew Austin, Michelle Guzik & Karl Jones

  2. Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool DC, WA, Australia

    William Humphreys

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

    William Humphreys

  4. Evolutionary Biology Unit, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Chris Watts & Steven J. B. Cooper

Authors
  1. Andrew Austin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michelle Guzik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Karl Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. William Humphreys
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Chris Watts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Steven J. B. Cooper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Austin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA

    Donald A. Yee

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Austin, A., Guzik, M., Jones, K., Humphreys, W., Watts, C., Cooper, S.J. . (2023). The Unique Australian Subterranean Dytiscidae: Diversity, Biology, and Evolution. In: Yee, D.A. (eds) Ecology, Systematics, and the Natural History of Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01245-7_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation