Comparative morphology of second and third instar larvae of Palaeostigus bifoveolatus (Boheman, 1851) (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae)

Exoskeletal morphological structures of all extant genera currently included into Mastigitae are very well studied, whereas the larvae are poorly known. Larval morphology provides a valuable character system for phylogenetic reconstructions, and as all hitherto carried out analyses of Mastigitae were based on adult characters only, it is important to fill this major gap by studying immature stages. We here describe in detail the second- and...