Refine
Document Type
- Article (2)
Language
- English (2)
Has Fulltext
- yes (2)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (2)
Keywords
- Caribbean (1)
- South America (1)
- West Indies (1)
- lectotype (1)
- water penny beetles (1)
A new genus and species of stygobiontic bidessine dytiscid beetle, Comaldessus stygius, from Comal Springs, Texas, is described and compared with the proposed sister epigean genus Uuarus and the only other known stygobiontic bidessine water beetles, Trogloguignotus concii Sanfilippo from Venezuela and Uvarus chappuisi (Peschet) from Africa. Distinctive characters of the adult are illustrated with pen and ink drawings and scanning electron micrographs. The new taxon is the second stygobiontic bidessine genus with rudimentary eyes known from the Western Hemisphere and the first known from North America.
An overview of the genus Psephenops Grouvelle (Coleoptera: Psephenidae: Psepheninae) is provided with geographic distributions of the species. The taxonomic history of Psephenops smithi Grouvelle, the type species from Grenada and St. Vincent, and junior synonym Xexanchorinus latus Grouvelle from Grenada, is discussed, and lectotypes and paralectotypes are designated for both. Photographs of the type series and a non-type specimen with illustrated male genitalia, along with new distributional information for the species, are provided. The male, female, and associated larva of Psephenops trini Barr and Shepard, new species, are described and illustrated, as is the habitat of this species in Trinidad and Tobago. The Peruvian species Psephenus robacki Spangler is transferred from Psephenus Haldeman to Psephenops as Psephenops robacki (Spangler) new combination. Photographs of the female holotype are included, and possible new distributional records from Peru are reported.
ZooBank registration. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5C9ECB63-6A77-4FF6-8391-BF0F77BE5674