class A {
  val clazz = Class.forName("xxx")
  val ctr = clazz.getConstructor(Nil: _*)
  
  // also crashes
  // val ctr = clazz.getConstructor(List(): _*)
  //
  // does not crash
  // val ctr = clazz.getConstructor(List[Class[_]]: _*)
}

[paulp@leaf bug]$$ scalac29 a.scala 
exception when traversing A.this.clazz.getConstructor((immutable.this.Nil: _*))
exception when traversing private[this] val ctr: java.lang.reflect.Constructor[_] = A.this.clazz.getConstructor((immutable.this.Nil: _*))
exception when traversing java.lang.Object with ScalaObject {
  def this(): A = {
    A.super.this();
    ()
  };
  private[this] val clazz: java.lang.Class[_] = java.this.lang.Class.forName("xxx");

...
Exception in thread "main" scala.tools.nsc.symtab.Types$$TypeError: type mismatch;
 found   : scala.reflect.Manifest[Nothing]
 required: scala.reflect.ClassManifest[B]
Note: Nothing <: B, but trait ClassManifest is invariant in type T.
You may wish to investigate a wildcard type such as `_ <: B`. (SLS 3.2.10)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Contexts$$Context.error(Contexts.scala:291)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Infer$$Inferencer.error(Infer.scala:205)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Infer$$Inferencer.typeError(Infer.scala:215)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Infer$$Inferencer.typeErrorTree(Infer.scala:230)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Typers$$Typer.adapt(Typers.scala:926)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Typers$$Typer.typed(Typers.scala:4142)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Typers$$Typer.typedArg(Typers.scala:2131)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Typers$$Typer$$$$anonfun$$typedArgs$$3.apply(Typers.scala:2144)
	at scala.tools.nsc.typechecker.Typers$$Typer$$$$anonfun$$typedArgs$$3.apply(Typers.scala:2143)