Agra, arboreal beetles of Neotropical forests: Agra platyscelis group systematics (Carabidae)
Systematic Entomology
1982
Journal Article
7
2
185-210
Parque Nacional del Manu beetles Coleoptera systematics taxonomy Agra new species Pakitza distributions Madre de Dios Bibliography
This paper is the second in a series covering taxonomically all species-groups of Agra, whose cumulative ranges extend from southernmost Texas (USA) to northernmost Argentina. A clear understanding of their phylogeny and distribution may provide good data with which to test recently proposed hypotheses of tropical species richness and endemism, particularly the forest refugium and flood-zone hypothesis. New methods of description are used in the series to cover the several hundred species in less time and space, to provide a consistent numerical data base for those who choose to use it and to use more efficiently and effectively the descriptive process. Four new combinations are made: A. baccii (Straneo), A. platyscelis (Chaudoir), A. guyanensis (Chaudoir) and A. semiviridis (Straneo). All these species were originally placed in Agridia. One synonymy was detected; A. clangoris Liebke is a junior synonym of A. guyanensis (Chaudoir). Sixteen new species of Agra are described from the following type-localities: A. howdenorum (Simla, 5.0 miles north of Arima, Trinidad, West Indies), A. ecaligis (Rio Bobonanza, Mentalva, Ecuador), A. yodella (Gourdonville, French Guiana), A. limulus (Tarapoto, Peru), A. tumatumari (Rio Potaro, Tumatumari, Guyana), A. varzeicola (Parana Costa da Ilha de Curari (Rio Solimoes), Amazonas, Brazil), A. ariasi (Reserva Ducke, 26.0 km northeast of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil), A. olivencana (Sao Paulo d'Olivenca, Amazonas, Brazil), A. iquitosana (Iquitos, Peru), A. tarapotoana (Tarapoto, Peru), A. titan (type area: French Guiana), A. seabrae (Mangabeira, near Mocajuba, Para, Brazil), A. caliga (Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, Panama) A. yeti (Rosario Oeste, Minas Gerais, Brazil), A. sasquatch (Belem, Para, Brazil) A. azureipennis (type are: northern Venezuela). Three subgroups containing 21 spp. are fully discussed. Their cumulative range extends from Panama south to Bolivia, east to the mouth of the Amazon River and north along the coast of the Guyanas; most species are very locally distributed. A dot map illustrates the range of each taxon. Distribution and relationships are discussed in general, but detailed cladistic analysis is deferred until taxonomy of the five groups of section Erythropus is completed. Species distributions correspond to Pleistocene refuges suggested by other authors based on other classes of organisms.