Two new species of Deromecus Solier from Guatemala (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Pomachiliini)

Authors

E. R. Fuller, Tweed, ONFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

12-31-2021

Citation

Fuller, ER. 2021. Two new species of Deromecus Solier from Guatemala (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Pomachiliini). Insecta Mundi 0900: 1–8.

Comments

Published on December 31, 2021 by Center for Systematic Entomology, Inc.

Copyright held by the author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons, Attribution Non-Commercial License,

Abstract

Deromecus georginas Fuller, new species, and Deromecus longitarsis Fuller, new species (Cole­optera: Elateridae: Pomachiliini) are described from cloud forest habitat on eastern coastal volcanoes in Quetzaltenango Department, Guatemala, and compared with Deromecus trivittatus Champion from Mexico.

Se describen la neuva especie Deromecus georginas Fuller y la neuva especie Deromecus longitarsis Fuller (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Pomachiliini), del hábitat del bosque nuboso, de los volcanes oriental de la costa, en el Departmento de Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, y se comparan con Deromecus trivittatus Cham­pion, de México.

The Elateridae are a conspicuous and diverse group of beetles in Central America (Champion 1894–1897). Adults of luminous species are called “cucuyo” (Perkins 1869), while larvae of click beetles are called “gusamos de alambre”. The tribe Pomachiliini Candèze is most diverse in South America (Schenkling 1925; Blackwelder 1944; Arias-Bohart and Elgueta 2012). The Central American species of Pomachiliini were last treated by Cham­pion (1894–1897), who recognized five genera and 10 species. Although traditionally regarded as Pomachiliini, I consider Psiloniscus Candèze, Paranius Champion and Smiliceroides Schwarz members of the Megapenthini (Fuller 1994). The Central American Pomachiliini thus comprise Pomachilius Eschscholtz, Smilicerus Candèze and Deromecus Solier. Pomachilius and Smilicerus have not been recorded north of Nicaragua, while Deromecus is known from one species, Deromecus trivittatus Champion, living in the state of Oaxaca, southern Mexico. To date, no species of Pomachiliini have been recorded from Guatemala. In my key to elaterid genera of Guatemala (Fuller 2012), Deromecus will key without difficulty to Agriotes Eschscholtz. Deromecus can be distinguished from Agriotes by the presence of an uninterrupted frontoclypeal carina between the eyes. In Agriotes, the fron­toclypeal carina is reduced to a ventrally curved carina above each antennal socket. As part of my study of the elaterid diversity of Guatemala, I am describing two new species from northwestern Guatemala that are similar to D. trivittatus.