Physodeutera

Overview

*Physodeutera* (Minideutera) Moravec, 2002 is the youngest subgenus of *Physodeutera*, comprising only three species restricted to central and eastern Madagascar. These small, metallic beetles—among the tiniest in the genus at 6–8 mm—live nocturnally on the bark and branches of forest trees. Their larvae develop within bark burrows, tightly bound to the island's endemic forest habitats.

Type species: Physodeutera melas Lacordaire, 1843 [by monotypy]

1. Wiesner, J. (2020) — checklist 2. Lacordaire, J.T. (1843) — original genus 3. Cassola, F. (multiple papers) — Malagasy revisions 4. Pearson, D.L. & Vogler, A.P. (2001) — Tiger Beetles: The Evolution, Ecology, and Diversity of the Cicindelids. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, 333 pp. [ISBN 0-8014-3882-9] 5. Moravec, J. (2002) — Tiger beetles of Madagascar 2. A monograph of the genus Physodeutera (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae). Nakladatelství Kabourek, Zlín, 290 pp. [DEFINITIVE GENUS MONOGRAPH] 6. Moravec, J. (2004) — New or rare Madagascar tiger beetles—9. Two new species of the genus Physodeutera. Zootaxa 775: 1-12. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.775.1.1 7. Moravec, J. (2010) — Tiger beetles of the Madagascan Region. Biosférická rezervace Dolní Morava, 429 pp. 8. Duran, D.P. & Gough, H.M. (2020) — Validation of tiger beetles as distinct family (Cicindelidae) and reclassification within Coleoptera. Systematic Entomology 45(4): 723-729. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12440 [validates Cicindelidae as separate family] 9. Gough, H.M., Duran, D.P., Kawahara, A.Y. & Toussaint, E.F.A. (2018) — A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelinae). Systematic Entomology 43(3): 567-586. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12324 [ML phylogeny of 328 taxa, 9 gene regions] +9 citations · full list in paid edition