Most firefly genera have poorly defined taxonomic boundaries, especially in the Neotropics, where they are more diverse and more difficult to identify. Recent advances that shed light on the diversity of fireflies in South America have focused mainly on Atlantic Rainforest taxa, whereas lampyrids in other biomes remained largely unstudied. We found three new firefly species endemic to the Amazon basin that share unique traits of the male abdomen where sternum VIII and the pygidium are modified and likely work as a copulation clamp. Here we test and confirm the hypothesis that these three species form a monophyletic lineage and propose Haplocauda gen. nov. to accommodate the three new species. Both maximum parsimony and probabilistic (Bayesian and maximum likelihood) phylogenetic analyses confirmed Haplocauda gen. nov. monophyly, and consistently recovered it as the sister group to Scissicauda, fireflies endemic to the Atlantic Rainforest that also feature a copulation clamp on abdominal segment VIII, although with a different configuration. We provide illustrations, diagnostic descriptions, and keys to species based on males and females. The three new species were sampled from different regions, and are likely allopatric, a common pattern among Amazonian taxa.
RESUMO Realizou-se o estudo morfológico e taxonômico dos táxons de Myrceugenia O. Berg (Myrtaceae) do Parque Nacional do Itatiaia e avaliou-se a utilização dos caracteres vegetativos e elementos florais como informação diagnóstica. O estudo consta de descrições, chave analítica, observações de campo efetuadas durante as coletas e levantamento de herbários. Foram assinalados para a area oito táxons: Myrceugenia alpigena (DC.) Landrum var. alpigena; M bracteosa (DC.) D. Legrand & Kausel; M campestris (DC.) D. Legrand & Kausel; M cucullata D. Legrand; M glaucescens var. latior Burret (Landrum); M miersiana (Gardner) D. Legrand & Kausel, M ovata var. regnelliana (O. Berg) Landrum e M seriatoramosa (Kiaersk.) D. Legrand & Kausel. Os caracteres diagnósticos considerados para os táxons foram forma da inflorescência, do botão floral, dos prófilos e lobos calicinais bem como presença e ausência de nervura intramarginal. Os caracteres vegetativos por si só não constituíram elementos suficientemente diagnósticos para os táxons ocorrentes na área. Foram registradas duas novas ocorrências para o estado do Rio de Janeiro: M campestris e M cucullata.
Cratomorphus Motschulsky, 1853 includes 38 species restricted to the Neotropical region. Based on adult males from Mexico, Cratomorphus leoneli sp. nov. is herein described from the states of Oaxaca, Campeche and Chiapas. We place the new species in Cratomorphus' group IV, which includes species with the posterior border of sternite VIII medially produced. The new species can be distinguished from other species of the group IV by the clypeus subquadrate, posterior margin of pygidium bisinuate and posterior margin of sternite VIII with an apically obtuse median projection. Illustrations of habiti and diagnostic traits are provided, along with an identification key and a distribution map for the group IV species.
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