CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction i 



Acknowledgments 2 



Literature 4 



Methods and procedure 9 



Rearing g 



Preservation and storage of material 10 



Preparation of material for examination 10 



Examination of material 11 



The reconnaissance survey 11 



The detailed study 11 



Abbreviations used in illustrations 13 



Listing the material examined 17 



Morphology of a typical lepturoidine larva 18 



Terminology 18 



Morphology of the mature larva of Ludius acripennis destructor Brown. 19 



Keys and descriptions 29 



Larval characteristics of the family Elateridae (with key to subfamilies). 32 



Larval characteristics of the tribe Lepturoidini (with key to genera) ... 33 



Genus Ludius Eschscholtz (with key to species groups) 35 



The Ludius aeripennis group 41 



Ludius aeripennis (Kirby) 42 



Ludius appro pinquans (Randall) (?) 44 



Ludius priwiimis (Horn) 45 



Ludius aeneus (Linnaeus) 46 



Ludius latus (Fabricius) 48 



The Ludius inflatus group 49 



Ludius glaucus (Germar) 50 



Ludius inflatus ( Say) (?) 55 



The Ludius edzuardsi group 56 



Ludius sexualis Brown (?) 57 



Ludius cruciatus fcstimis (LeConte) (?) 62 



Ludius spretus ( Mannerheim ) 63 



Ludius melancholicus (Fabricius) 64 



Ludius amplicollis (Germar) 64 



The Ludius semivittatus group 65 



Ludius semivittatus ( Say) (?) 66 



The Ludius propola group 67 



Ludius propola propola (LeConte) 68 



Ludius hieroglyphicus ( Say) 73 



Ludius pudicus Brown 74 



The Ludius triundulatus group 75 



Ludius tri^mdnIatHS (Randall) 76 



Ludius nebraskensis (Bland) (?) 81 



iii 



