A new genus of Phengodidae (Coleoptera) from the Neotropical Region

Abstract

Cleicosta, a new genus of Phengodidae containing two new species, C. equatoreana sp. nov., and C. monaguense sp. nov., are described. Additionally, a new combination for Cenophengus breviplumatus Wittmer, 1976 is included. Cleicosta gen. nov., is the thirty-eighth genus assigned to the beetle family Phengodidae in the new world and is also the most morphologically similar to Cenophengus LeConte, 1881. Both genera exhibit clearly separated tentorial pits, vertical frons and simple tarsomeres. In Cleicosta gen. nov., however, the antennal rami are 1.5 times longer than the corresponding antennomere, the pronotum is subquadrate and the elytra are short, reaching the first or second abdominal segment. In addition, it presents an aedeagus with lateral lobes slender, parallel exteriorly, narrowed medially to toothless apex.

A new genus of railroad-worm beetles from the Atlantic Rainforest from Brazil (Coleoptera: Phengodidae, Mastinocerinae)

“…It includes in totality an area of 20,030 ha, with altitudes from 200 to 2,263 m, nested at the borders of four municipalities in the Rio de Janeiro State: Guapimirim, Magé, Petrópolis and Teresópolis (ICMBIO, 2008). Its phytophysiognomies include: lower montane forest (below 800 m), montane forest (600 to 1,500 m), high-montane forest (1,500 to 2,000 m) and the "Campos de altitude" (CA) or "Brazilian Páramos" (starting at 2,000 m) (Rizzini, 1954;Veloso et al, 1991;Safford, 1999). Its climate varies from hot and rainy summers to humid winters, when temperatures near freezing are found at the mountaintops (Flinte et al, 2009).…”

“…The American Phengodidae LeConte, 1861 are composed of 295 species and 37 genera from southern Canada to northern Chile-Argentina, being more specious in the Neotropical region (Costa & Zaragoza-Caballero, 2010;Zaragoza-Caballero & Hernández, 2014;Constantin, 2014Constantin, , 2016Roza et al, 2017Roza et al, , 2018Roza & Mermudes, 2019;Vega-Badillo & Zaragoza-Caballero, 2019;Vega-Badillo et al, 2020). In Brazil, 59 species and 15 genera are recorded (Roza et al, 2017(Roza et al, , 2018Roza & Mermudes, 2019;Quintino, 2019).…”

“…Additionally, the Middle East Cydistinae (two genera and seven species), previously an Elateroidea incertae sedis, were recently found to be the sister group of the American Phengodidae, based on molecular data, and included in the group as a subfamily (Kundrata et al, 2019). Mastinocerinae Leng, 1920 is presently composed of 28 genera in the entire American continent (Zaragoza-Caballero & Hernández, 2014;Roza et al, 2017Roza et al, , 2018Roza & Mermudes, 2019;Vega-Badillo et al, 2020). The group is morphologically diverse and badly defined, with no genera ever revised and several new taxa waiting to be described.…”

Figure 10 from: Vega-Badillo V, Morrone JJ, Zaragoza-Caballero S (2021) Revision of the genus Cenophengus LeConte, 1881 (Coleoptera, Phengodidae), with the description of four new species, new geographic records and a new synonymy. ZooKeys 1068: 73-148. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1068.70295

“…Zaragoza-Caballero (1975, 1984, 1988, 1991, 2003, 2008 described 12 Mexican species, with his descriptions more detailed than previous ones. Vega Badillo et al (2020) designated C. breviplumatus as the type species of a new genus (Cleicosta), characterised by short elytra, the last seven tergites exposed, gular sutures parallel anteriorly and parameres of aedeagus narrowed medially to spineless apex, differing from Cenophengus in that the latter has the parameres of the aedeagus parallel, with apical teeth (Fig. 1).…”

Nuevos registros, distribución biogeográfica y clave para la identificación de géneros de Phengodidae (Coleoptera) de Argentina

“…La familia Phengodidae LeConte (Coleoptera: Elateroidea) incluye 38 géneros y 286 especies (Constantin, 2014(Constantin, , 2016Zaragoza-Caballero & Pérez-Hernández, 2014;Roza et al, 2017Vega-Badillo & Zaragoza-Caballero, 2019;Vega-Badillo et al, 2020) clasificadas en tres subfamilas (Phengodinae LeConte, Mastinocerinae LeConte, y Penicillophorinae Paulus) presentes en el continente Americano, desde el sur de Canadá hasta el norte de Chile y centro de Argentina (Costa & Zaragoza Caballero, 2010). Estudios moleculares recientes han propuesto a Cydistinae Paulus (con dos géneros distribuidos en Asia Menor) como parte de Phengodidae (Kundrata et al, 2019).…”