THE IMMATURE STAGES AND PHYLOGENY OF IMPARIPECTEN FREEMAN, AN AUSTRALIAN ENDEMIC GENUS OF WOOD-MINING CHIRONOMID (DIPTERA)

The Australian endemic genus Imparipecten Freeman 1961 is revised, wit h descriptions newly provided for the immature stages. The single spec ies, Imparipecten pictipes Freeman 1961, which mines immersed wood as a larva, is found in lotic waters in eastern Australia From northern N ew South Wales to Tasmania. A postulated phylogenetic relationship to Endochironomus Kieffer and Tribelos Townes (Freeman, 1961) is refuted by the female genitalia, the morphology of the immature stages and by parsimony analysis of combined life history data. The best substantiat ed phylogenetic hypothesis has Imparipecten lying within a grouping th at includes Paratendipes Kieffer, Conochironomus Freeman and Skusella Freeman - a monophyletic grouping defined by the possession of a larva l six-segmented antenna with Lauterborn organs alternate on the second and third segments.