The neotropical subgenera and species of the pantropical genus Anaulacus MacLeay (sensu novo) (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Masoreini): A taxonomic revision, with notes about way of life, evolution, and geographical history
Transactions of the American Entomological Society
2002
Journal Article
128
2-3
265-343
taxonomy new species animal behavior beetles distributions animals invertebrates arthropods insects Coleoptera systematics distributions natural history Anaulacus Carabidae Madre de Dios Bibliography
Classified as genera of the tribe Masoreini are the pantropical Anaulacus MacLeay, 1825, sensu novo, and three Eastern Hemisphere (Old World) genus-group taxa: Masoreus Dejean, 1821; Leuropus Andrewes, 1947; and Atlantomasoreus Mateu, 1984. Classified as subgenera of Anaulacus are the following previously described genus-group taxa: Anaulacus (sensu stricto), new status; Aephnidius W. S. MacLeay, 1825, new combination; Caphora Schmidt-Gobel, 1846, new combination; Microns Chaudoir, 1876, new combination; Macracanthus Chaudoir, 1846 (= Ophryognathus Chaudoir, 1876, new junior synonym), new combination; and Odontomasoreus Darlington, 1968, new combination. Primarily a taxonomic review of the Neotropical elements of Anaulacus MacLeay, this paper includes a classification, a key to subgenera and species, descriptions of taxa, re-rankings, and new synonymy. In total, 15 species are treated, seven of which are described as new. The Neotropical taxa are arranged in the following sequence, with type localities of new species in parentheses, following name of the taxon. The new subgenusApostolus includes only its type species, A. batesi Chaudoir. The eight species of subgenus Aephnidius MacLeay are arranged in three species groups: piceolus group, with only A. piceolus Chaudoir; ampliusculus group, with four species-A. ampliusculus Chaudoir,A. bonariensis Chaudoir,A. ciliatus Mutchler, and A. humeralis, new species (Santa Maria de Dota, Provincia San Jose, Costa Rica); and exiguus group, with three species - A. exiguus, new species (15 km. NE Puerto Maldonado, 12degrees33'S, 69degrees03'W, Departamento Madre de Dios, Peru), A. whiteheadi, new species (San Quintin, 16degrees24'N, 69degrees03'W, State of Chiapas, Mexico); and A. ashei, new species (type locality same as for A. exiguus, above). Three fossil specimens in amber, from the island of Hispaniola, in the Dominican Republic, are assumed to be conspecific with one another, the species to which they belong being included in subgenus Aephinidius, but treated as incertae sedis in relation to the exant members of that subgenus. The six species of subgenus Macracanthus Chaudoir, are arranged in three species groups, as follows: sericatus group, with three species-A. scricatus Chaudoir, A. thoracicus, new species (Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), and A. erwini, new species (Cocha Shinguito, Rio Samiria, Departamento Loreto, Peru); the mcclevei species group, including only A. mcclevei, new species (17 km SW Moctezuma, State of Sonora, Mexico); and the A. tuberculatus group, including two species - A. pittieri Gahan, and A. tuberculatus Chaudoir (including A. t. tuberculatus and A. t. brasilianus van Emden, new junior synonym). Generally geophilous, most of the species live at altitudes between sea level and 500 in., in a variety of situations, from tropical evergreen forest, though some live in semi-tropical forests, to dry, open areas. Adults of many of the species fly at night. Most of the species of subgenus Macracanthus are associated in some way with ants of the genus Atta. The species A. (M.) sericatus is a facultative cavernicole, also. The distribution patterns of subgenera and species are fitted to a general model purporting to explain such patterns, in terms of plate tectonics, refuge theory, and climatic change during the Tertiary and Quaternary Periods.