Insecta Mundi
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0073
The beetle fauna of the island of Barbados is summarized. It is now known to contain 202 genera, and 254 species (in 40 families), of which 232 are named at the species level. Undoubtedly, the actual numbers of species on Barbados are much higher than now known. Nine species are possibly endemic to the island, 15 have been intentionally introduced, and 51 have probably been accidentally introduced through human activity. The remaining 157 named species may occur naturally as a result of natural over-water dispersal processes. These species mostly have a wide distribution in the Antilles and Latin America. The total named fauna is thus about 72% naturally occurring, and 28% the result of human-aided dispersal.
0078
Recent extensive and intensive field work by the team of M. A. Ivie on the Lesser Antillean island of Montserrat suggests that a mean of 827 beetle species may be expected on that island. This datum makes possible the generation of hypotheses of the probable beetle species diversity on other islands of the Lesser Antilles as a function of the areas of the islands. Figures are given for the presently known, estimated total, and estimated number of unknown species for each principal island. This predicts that many hundreds (if not thousands) of beetle species remain to be discovered. This is of importance to land management and conservation interests on these rapidly changing and ecologically fragile islands.
0106
The published beetle fauna of the island of St. Lucia is summarized. It contains 135 genera, and 175 species in 25 families. Four species are accidentally introduced by human activities. Twenty three species are endemic (restricted) to the island. Twenty seven species on St. Lucia are shared only with other islands of the Lesser Antilles, and 22 species are widespread Antilles endemics. The remaining 56.6% of the fauna is otherwise mostly one which is widely distributed in the Antilles and the Neotropics. This suggests that it is mostly an immigrant fauna originating in the continental Neotropics. Undoubtedly, the actual numbers of species on St. Lucia are many times higher than now reported and may originally have been as high as around 1400 species. Of the St. Lucia species known to occur on other islands, the largest numbers are shared with Guadeloupe (102), St. Vincent (79), and Martinique (55).
0460
The island arc of the Lesser Antilles lies at the eastern margin of the Caribbean Sea in the Western Hemisphere, and stretches from the eastern end of the islands of the Greater Antilles (at the Virgin Islands), south to a position near the continental islands of Trinidad and Tobago at the north eastern corner of South America. The islands are a part of the West Indian Islands biodiversity “hotspot” and have been available for terrestrial colonization for about the past 15 million years. This is a status report on present knowledge of the beetle faunas of these islands, which is composed of 90 families, 1210 genera, and 2612 recognized species. Many additional species are not yet identified, or are unnamed, or remain to be discovered. Reported for the first time from the Lesser Antilles are four families, 49 genera, 105 species, and 1253 new island records. The largest families are Curculionidae (588 species), Staphylinidae (389 species), Chrysomelidae (181 species), Tenebrionidae (142 species), Cerambycidae (138 species), Scarabaeidae (127 species), and Carabidae (126 species). There are differing patterns of species distributions: 154 species are probably introduced by human activities; 985 are endemic species (limited to a single island); 465 are species endemic to more than one island of the Lesser Antilles; 212 are species limited to just islands of the West Indies; and 800 are native (naturally occurring) species which also have part of their distributional range in North, Central, or South America. Most of the widely distributed beetle fauna has probably come from South America by over-water dispersal. There is no compelling evidence for a vicariance origin of any part of the beetle fauna. Earlier colonists have had more time to form endemic genera (18) and endemic species. The more widely distributed species probably represent distributions achieved in and since the Pleistocene.
0058
592
This paper revises the genus Ganelius Benesh, which is endemic to Madagascar, in the stag beetle tribe Figulini Burmeister (Coleoptera: Lucanidae: Lucaninae). Species in the genus are striking in their highly sexually dimorphic mandibles, a character that rarely occurs in the tribe. The genus was previously comprised of four species, but three of these names were problematic or questionably applied. A lectotype is designated for G. madagascariensis Laporte, a neotype is designated for Ganelius oberndorferi Nonfried, and Nigidius passaliformis Benesh is newly synonymized with G. oberndorferi. Two new species, G. gnamptus Paulsen and G. zombi Paulsen, are described from western Madagascar. The identity of the overlooked Ganelius nageli (Kriesche) is fixed through a neotype designation, and the species is moved to the new genus Agnelius, which is distinguished from Ganelius by a lack of sexual dimorphism, serrate protibiae, and a more flattened body.
0021
Generic placement of Nearctic species of Ochodaeinae has lagged behind changes in generic concepts in the group. In order to place Nearctic species into the appropriate genus-level taxa, several nomenclatural changes are made. The new generic name Xenochodaeus is proposed for species with an elongate, subparallel sulcus on the propygidium and a longitudinally impressed mentum. The genus contains 6 species. Xenochodaeus americanus (Westwood), new combination, is valid and is removed from synonymy with X. musculus (Say), new combination. A neotype is designated for Odontaeus musculus. Ochodaeus opacus LeConte is synonymized under X. americanus. Other new combinations include Xenochodaeus luscinus (Howden), X. planifrons (Schaeffer), X. simplex (LeConte), and X. ulkei (Horn). The new generic name Cucochodaeus is proposed for species having the propygidial sulcus absent, stridulatory peg absent, and possessing 9 antennomeres. The genus contains 1 species, C. sparsus (LeConte), new combination. Ochodaeus mandibularis Linell is placed into synonymy with C. sparsus. Ochodaeus gnatho Fall is transferred to the genus Codocera Eschscholtz, resulting in C. gnatho (Fall), new combination. Two new combinations result from Nearctic species transferred to Neochodaeus Nikolajev: N. repandus (Fall) and N. striatus (LeConte). Three Nearctic species are transferred to Parochodaeus Nikolajev, resulting in new combinations: Parochodaeus californicus (Horn), P. duplex (LeConte), and P. peninsularis (Horn). A lectotype is designated for Ochodaeus kansanus Fall, and that same specimen is designated as the neotype of Ochodaeus duplex (LeConte), objectively synonymizing O. kansanus with O. duplex. A checklist of Nearctic species and key to Nearctic genera are provided.
0184
0171
The monotypic aesaline genus Lucanobium Howden and Lawrence (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) was previously known only from Venezuela. A second species is here described as new from French Guiana, extending the range of the genus approximately 1800 km to the southeast. The generic description of Lucanobium is updated with respect to the discovery of a second species.
0325
The Neotropical members of the genus Aesalus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Lucanidae: Aesalinae) are transferred to a new genus, Trogellus, due to their morphological dissimilarity and molecular divergence from the Old World species of Aesalus, and the new genus is revised. A neotype is designated for A. trogoides Albers and a lectotype for A. neotropicalis Bates. Aesalus smithi Bates is placed into synonymy with Aesalus trogoides, new synonymy. Two new combinations result from the transfer of species formerly in Aesalus: Trogellus trogoides from Mexico and Trogellus neotropicalis from Guatemala. In addition to the two known species, eight new species are described: T. catrachitus, T. chapinitus, T. hawksi, T. herrmanni, T. maesi, T. narizotus, T. ticiticus, and T. trifinius. This brings the total number of species of Central American aesalines to ten. A phylogeny of Aesalini based on two gene regions of ribosomal DNA is presented. Due to clear morphological differences and large molecular divergence between species groups, two additional new subgenera of Trogellus are proposed: Mayaesalus and Trogoides.