Larval morphology of the genus Cerocoma (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and phylogenetic implications

The Palaearctic blister beetle genus Cerocoma Geoffroy, 1762 includes species with great morphological differences in the adults, emphasised in the four subgenera. First instar larvae of three species, belonging to two different subgenera — C. (Cerocoma) schaefferi (Linnaeus, 1758), C. (Metacerocoma) prevezaensis Dvorak, 1993, C. (Metacerocoma) schreberi Fabricius, 1781 — are described and compared to that of the single other species previously known in literature, C. (Cerocomina) vahli Fabricius, 1787. First instar larvae of Cerocoma have typical features of the subfamily Meloinae, without derived characters. No relevant differences were found by a SEM morphological study, and the species can be distinguished only by morphometric characters. Consequently, subgeneric divisions, based on the adult morphology, are not supported by larval characters.