Insecta Mundi
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0113
0112
A new species of anamorphine endomychid, Micropsephodes bahamaensis Shockley is described from a small series of 3 specimens collected on North Andros Island in the Bahamas. Besides being the only species known from the Bahamas, M. bahamaensis is readily recognizable from its congeners based on its much larger size, more elongate habitus and features of the galeae and maxillary palpomere IV. Keys to the known species of Micropsephodes and to the adults of the genera of Anamorphinae that occur in the Western Hemisphere are provided.
0111
The checkered beetle Aphelochroa sanguinalis (Westwood) (Coleoptera: Cleridae) is found in savanna and woodland ecosystems of southern and eastern Africa. During surveys for insect floral visitors in the Skukuza Ranger District of Kruger National Park, South Africa, we encountered adults of Aphelochroa sanguinalis on flowers of two tree species, Acacia grandicornuta Gerstner and Acacia tortilis (Forsskal) Hayne (Fabaceae). These two tree species flower in the early rainy season (November-December) and have small white flowers in small round ball-shaped clusters. Adults of phelochroa sanguinalis were not found on flowers of 14 other tree species with different floral structures which were flowering at the same time as Acacia grandicornuta and Acacia tortilis. Predatory, reproductive, and defensive behaviors (including the presence of a chemical defense) are described for Aphelochroa sanguinalis based on field and laboratory observations.
0110
Adults, and in some species larvae, of several members of Belonuchus Nordmann (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae) and a few related genera seem to be to various degrees consistently associated with flower bracts of the genus Heliconia (Zingiberales: Heliconiaceae). They are predators and eat various dipterous and lepidopterous larvae in that habitat. Adults of at least Belonuchus cephalotes (Sharp) and Odontolinus fasciatus Sharp are able to immerse completely in water to capture larvae and/or pupae of mosquitoes (Culicidae). Adults and larvae of Belonuchus satyrus Erichson, and adults of B. cacao Blackwelder and B. rufipennis (F.) were found in water-filled flower bracts of Heliconia bihai (L.) L. in northern, lowland Venezuela. The bracts also contained mosquito larvae and semiaquatic coleopterous (Chrysomelidae: Hispinae), lepidopterous (Crambidae: Pyraustinae) and dipterous (Syrphidae, Stratiomyidae, Psychodidae, Richardiidae) larvae, and Annelida. In feeding trials, B. satyrus adults and larvae did not feed on hispine larvae or annelids, but did feed on all the lepidopterous and dipterous larvae available to them; adults dragged larvae and pupae of the mosquito genus Toxorhynchites Theobald from shallow water and thus seemed to be the top predators of the food pyramid within bracts. Records are compiled of association of Belonuchus and relatives with Heliconia bracts in the neotropics. We correct the names used for Heliconia spp. by earlier entomological authors working in Venezuela. Their ‘Heliconia caribaea Lamarck’ is H. bihai (L.) L. and their ‘H. aurea Rodríguez’ is H. bihai cv. Aurea.
0109
A Caribbean species of Mecidea Dallas, M. longula Stål, apparently established in south Florida, is reported from the United States for the first time. Specimens were first collected in February 2008 in a light trap operated in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Collections in that trap have continued through the present. Searches near the trap location resulted in several specimens being taken from smutgrass, Sporobolus indicus (L.), an exotic grass now established throughout much of the southeastern United States. The three North American species of Mecidea are keyed and illustrated. In addition to the Florida locality, M. longula is reported for the first time from the British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts, St. Martin, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
0108
0107
Generic reassignment of species in the tribe Cephaloleiini Chapuis, 1875 (Coleoptera: Cassidinae)
(2009)
Thirty-one species of Cephaloleiini are assigned to new genera, creating new combinations: 19 to Parimatidium Spaeth, 10 to Stilpnaspis Weise, and two to Demotispa Baly. Demotispa peruana membrata Uhmann, 1957 is raised to full species status. As the transfer of Cephaloleia limbatum Pic to Demotispa creates a homonymy, the species is renamed Demotispa pici nomen novum.
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).
0105
With documentation of an unidentifiable adult female and juvenile Tingupidae (Chordeumatida), Kodiak Island, Alaska, becomes the westernmost indigenous diplopod locality in North America including continental islands. The northernmost and most proximate locality, Yakutat, lies ca. 935 mi (1,496 km) to the eastnortheast, while Haines, the type locality of Tingupa tlingitorum Shear and Shelley, some 1,196 mi (1,914 km) in this direction, is the most proximate familial site. Kodiak is also one of the most remote indigenous milliped localities in the Pacific, the most proximate ones to the west and south, Kamchatka, Russia, and the Hawaiian Islands, United States, being over 3,300 mi (5, 280 km) distant. Tingupidae is recorded for the first time from Canada excluding the Queen Charlotte Islands, and geographically remote, ostensibly indigenous records from the North Pacific Ocean and environs are tabulated.
0104
Distribution and habitat information are provided for 1578 adult specimens of Odonata representing 127 species in 70 genera and 16 families that were collected from 143 locations throughout Thailand. Of the species collected, 25 (20%) were represented by a single specimen, and 40 (31%) were collected from a single location. Collections were made at 49 lentic and 85 lotic sites, and an average of 6.9 and 6.6 species were collected at each site in each habitat, respectively.
0103
0102
The Southeast Asian scarab beetle genus Peltonotus Burmeister (Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) is associated with aroid flowers and possesses a unique, articulated maxillary tooth. We describe five new species of Peltonotus: P. animus and P. cybele from Sumatra, P. favonius from Vietnam, P. mushiyaus from Borneo, and P. tigerus from Thailand. The circumscription of P. karubei Muramoto is broadened to include new color variation, and the body size range for the genus is increased with Peltonotus mushiyaus, n. sp., now being the smallest member of the genus. We provide an amended key to species, distribution maps, diagnoses and accompanying comparative images, and discuss classification of the genus within the Scarabaeidae.
0101
0100
Two species of Xyloryctes occur in the United States: X. jamaicensis (Drury) and X. thestalus Bates. Identification and distribution of these species has long been confused but is reviewed and clarified here. Xyloryctes jamaicensis occurs only in the eastern half of the U.S. and not in the southwestern U.S. as previously thought, while X. thestalus occurs in Guatemala and southern Mexico northwards to the southwestern United States. This hypothesis is corroborated by biogeographical and host plant data. Three new synonyms are listed for X. thestalus: X. faunus Casey 1915, X. hebes Casey 1915, and X. thestalus borealis Endrödi. The decline of Fraxinus spp., the food plant of Xyloryctes species, as a result of damage caused by the introduced emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire; Buprestidae) in the United States might portend a similar decline for Xyloryctes species in North America.
0099
Six species of the tribe Oryctini, one species of Agaocephalini, and two species of Dynastini are presently recorded from the Cayo district of western Belize. The following five species are newly recorded from Belize: Heterogomphus mniszechi (Thomson), Strategus longichomperus Ratcliffe, S. jugurtha Burmeister, Spodistes mniszechi (Thomson), and Dynastes hercules (Linnaeus). The following two species are newly recorded from Cayo: Enema endymion Chevrolat and Strategus aloeus (Linnaeus). Biological and distributional comments relating to these records are presented and briefly discussed.
0098
The first New World amber member of the family Lucanidae is described from the Dominican Republic. Its age is presumed to be Miocene (20-30 million YBP). It is also the fourth known amber species, the second Miocene fossil species, the second fossil species in the subfamily Syndesinae, and the first species (fossil or extant) of Lucanidae from the entire Caribbean. It is especially interesting because it is a member of the Australasian genus Syndesus MacLeay. Other such disjunct Dominican amber insect fossils are also discussed.
0097
0096
I provide the first record for the recently described hangingfly, Bittacus monastyrskiyi Bicha, 2007, from Há Tay Province (Ba Vi National Park), Vietnam, along with new seasonal, altitudinal, and habitat data. This is the only described species of bittacid from Vietnam, and this new record extends its range 100 km northnorthwest from its type locality in Cuc Phuong National Park, Thanh Hoa Province.
0095
Novel host records and feeding behaviors are reported for five species in three genera of two cassidine beetle tribes, Hemisphaerotini and Imatidiini, from Ecuador. Carludovica Ruiz and Pav. (Cyclanthaceae) is reported as a new plant family and genus host for two species of Spaethiella Barber and Bridwell. Calathea G. Mey (Marantaceae) is reported as the first host record for Aslamidium capense (Herbst) and Calathea lutea Schult. and Calathea majestica (Linden) H. Kenn. are reported as the first host records for Aslamidium semicirculare (Olivier). Immature stages of Demotispa elaeicola (Aslam) are reported for the first time; larvae are external folivores and both larvae and pupae are solitary and lack exuvio-fecal shields. The adults and larvae of D. elaeicola feed by rasping palm fruits, a rare feeding pattern in Cassidinae.
0094
Geographic variation and subspecific taxonomy of United States populations of the tiger beetle Cicindela obsoleta Say are reviewed. Study of primary types and 1,424 museum specimens indicates that four subspecific entities are present in the U.S., for which the valid names are C. o. obsoleta Say, C. o. santaclarae Bates, C. o. vulturina LeConte, and C. o. neojuvenilis Vogt. All four subspecies are illustrated, including many color variants. ArcView Geographic Information System (GIS) computer software is used to study the distribution of these subspecies in the United States. Cicindela o. obsoleta and C. o. santaclarae are only partially allopatric, with extensive areas in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas where their distributions overlap. Specimens intermediate in their elytral markings between C. o. obsoleta and C. o. santaclarae are reported from localities in New Mexico and Texas where these two subspecies co-occur. In contrast, C. o. vulturina and C. o. neojuvenilis are largely allopatric and show little intergradation with the C. o. obsoleta - C. o. santaclarae complex. It has been suggested recently that disjunct (but as yet unnamed) populations of C. o. vulturina in Missouri and Arkansas may represent a separate subspecies of C. obsoleta. However, the color and elytral pattern characteristics which have been interpreted as diagnostic features of these disjunct populations are also found in many Texas populations of C. o. vulturina, suggesting that the Arkansas and Missouri populations do not merit recognition as a separate subspecies on the basis of these characters alone.