Belongs within: Dytiscidae.
The Copelatinae is a speciose clade of diving beetles, most species of which are included in the genus Copelatus. Larvae, where known, are presumed solid feeders with serrated mandibles and a foregut including a crop.
Characters (from Miller 2001): Metacoxal lines closely approximated medially (metacoxal lines lost in Lacconectus); spermatheca strongly reduced; scutellum externally visible; metatarsal claws equal in length in both sexes.
<==Copelatinae [Copelatini] | i. s.: Aglymbus Sharp 1882BW04 | Liopterus Dejean 1833RL01 | `--H. haemorrhoidalisVB21 [=Copelatus haemorrhoidalisM01] |--Agaporomorphus Zimmermann 1921M01, BW04 | |--A. dodgei Young 1989RL01 [=Hydrodytes dodgeiM01] | |--A. knischiM01 | `--A. perairaiM01 `--+--Lacconectus Motschulsky 18565M01, BW04 | |--L. formosanusM01 | `--L. peguensisRB02 `--Copelatus Erichson 1832M01 [incl. Exocelina Broun 1886RL01, Pelocatus Zaitzev 1908RL01] | i. s.: C. ater Sharp 1882LM87 | C. australis (Clark 1863) [=Celina australis; incl. Co. torcutus Guignot 1954]LM87 | C. bakewelli Balfour-Browne 1939LM87 | C. boulevardi Watts 1978LM87 | C. daemeli Sharp 1882LM87 | C. distinctusM01 | C. divisus Balfour-Browne 1939 [=C. gentilis divisus]LM87 | C. elongatulus Macleay 1871LM87 | C. ferrugineus Sharp 1882 [incl. C. erraticus Balfour-Browne 1939, C. lividus Sharp 1882]LM87 | C. gapa Watts 1978LM87 | C. glyphicus Say 1825 [incl. C. decemstriatus, C. punctulatus]FS90 | C. gracilis Sharp 1882LM87 | C. kalahariiM01 | C. longicornisR89a | C. marginatus Sharp 1882LM87 | C. nakamurai Guéorguiev 1970I92 | C. nomaxS86 | C. parvulusS62 | C. politusM86 | C. ragazziiG89 | C. simplex Clark 1863 [incl. C. labratus Sharp 1882, C. victoriae Clark 1863]LM87 | C. striatulusR89c | C. strinatii Guignot 1958S86 | C. subterraneus Gueorguiev 1978S86 | C. tenebrosus Régimbart 1880LM87 [incl. C. pusillusR89b] |--C. (Copelatus)BW04 | | i. s.: *C. (C.) posticatus (Fabricius 1801)LM87 (see below for synonymy) | | C. (C.) gestroiBW04 | |--C. (C.) irregularis Macleay 1871BW04 | `--+--C. (C.) clarki Sharp 1882BW04 | `--C. (C.) nigrolineatus Sharp 1882BW04 `--C. (Papuadytes Balke 1998)BW04 | i. s.: C. (P.) rasilis Lea 1899BW04, LM87 |--+--C. (P.) glyptus Guignot 1954BW04 | `--C. (P.) punctipennis Lea 1899BW04 `--+--C. (P.) abditus Balke, Watts et al. 2004BW04 `--+--C. (P.) australiae Clark 1863BW04 (see below for synonymy) `--C. (P.) melanarius Sharp 1882BW04
*Copelatus (Copelatus) posticatus (Fabricius 1801)LM87 [=Dystiscus posticatusLM87; incl. C. duodecimstriatusFS90, C. elegansFS90, C. multistriatusFS90]
Copelatus (Papuadytes) australiae Clark 1863BW04 [incl. C. acuductus Clark 1863LM87, C. extensus Sharp 1882LM87, C. nigritulus Sharp 1882LM87, C. tarsalis Balfour-Browne 1939LM87]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BW04] Balke, M., C. H. S. Watts, S. J. B. Cooper, W. F. Humphreys & A. P. Vogler. 2004. A highly modified stygobiont diving beetle of the genus Copelatus (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae): taxonomy and cladistic analysis based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. Systematic Entomology 29: 59–67.
[FS90] Fleutiaux, E., & A. Sallé. 1890. Liste des coléoptères de la Guadeloupe et descriptions d’espèces nouvelles. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 6e série 9: 351–484.
[G89] Gestro, R. 1889. Viaggio ab Assab nel Mar Rosso dei signori G. Doria ed O. Beccari con il R. Avviso “Esploratore” dal 16 Novembre 1879 al 26 Febbraio 1880.—IV. Coleotteri. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2a, 7: 5–72.
[I92] Iwahashi, J. (ed.) 1992. Reddo Deeta Animaruzu: a pictorial of Japanese fauna facing extinction. JICC: Tokyo.
[LM87] Lawrence, J. F., B. P. Moore, J. E. Pyke & T. A. Weir. 1987. Zoological Catalogue of Australia vol. 4. Coleoptera: Archostemata, Myxophaga and Adephaga. Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra.
[M86] Macleay, W. 1886. The insects of the Fly River, New Guinea, “Coleoptera”. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (1): 136–157.
[M01] Miller, K. B. 2001. On the phylogeny of the Dytiscidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) with emphasis on the morphology of the female reproductive system. Insect Systematics and Evolution 32: 45–92.
[R89a] Régimbart, M. 1889a. Enumération des Haliplidae, Dytiscidae et Gyrinidae recueillis par M.r le Prof. L. Balzan dans l’Amérique méridionale et description de quelques autres espèces voisines. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2a, 7: 256–268.
[R89b] Régimbart, M. 1889b. Contributions a la faune Indo-Chinoise. 2e mémoire. Hydrocanthares. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 6e série 9: 147–156.
[R89c] Régimbart, M. 1889c. Voyage de M. Ch. Alluaud dans le territoire d’Assinie (Afrique occidentale) en juillet et août 1886. 2e mémoire. Dytiscidae et Gyrinidae. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 6e série 9: 247–250.
[RB02] Ribera, I., R. G. Beutel, M. Balke & A. P. Vogler. 2002. Discovery of Aspidytidae, a new family of aquatic Coleoptera. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B—Biological Sciences 269: 2351–2356.
[RL01] Roughley, R. E., & D. J. Larson. 2001. Dytiscidae Leach, 1815. In: Arnett, R. H., Jr & M. C. Thomas (eds) American Beetles vol. 1. Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia pp. 156–186. CRC Press: Boca Raton.
[S62] Spangler, P. J. 1962. Natural history of Plummers Island, Maryland. XIV. Biological notes and description of the larva and pupa of Copelatus glyphicus (Say) (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 75: 19–24.
[S86] Spangler, P. J. 1986. Insecta: Coleoptera. In: Botosaneanu, L. (ed.) Stygofauna Mundi: A Faunistic, Distributional, and Ecological Synthesis of the World Fauna inhabiting Subterranean Waters (including the Marine Interstitial) pp. 622–631. E. J. Brill/Dr W. Backhuys: Leiden.
[VB21] Vasilikopoulos, A., M. Balke, S. Kukowka, J. M. Pflug, S. Martin, K. Meusemann, L. Hendrich, C. Mayer, D. R. Maddison, O. Niehuis, R. G. Beutel & B. Misof. 2021. Phylogenomic analyses clarify the pattern of evolution of Adephaga (Coleoptera) and highlight phylogenetic artefacts due to model misspecification and excessive data trimming. Systematic Entomology 46: 991–1018.