Two New Species of Bumblebee Scarabs (Coleoptera: Glaphyridae: Lichnanthe Burmeister) from the Central United States: A New Discovery in Wyoming Resolves a Century-old Puzzle from the Nebraska Sand Hills

Authors

Matthew J. Paulsen, University of Nebraska State MuseumFollow

ORCID IDs

00009-0009-2285-035X

Date of this Version

2024

Citation

Insecta Mundi (March 1, 2024) 1033: 1–11

Published by the Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Florida, United States

ZooBank registration:

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:401927DA-66D9-47A1-AE68-965210824713

Comments

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons, Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC) license

Abstract

The genus Lichnanthe Burmeister (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Glaphyridae) has comprised eight Nearctic species and contains the only New World members of their family. Here, two new species of arenicolous bumblebee scarabs are described from the central United States. The recent discovery of an undescribed Wyoming species led to the reevaluation of a dubious 134-year-old Nebraska Lichnanthe specimen, indicating that it also was an undescribed species. These two species, Lichnanthe brusti new species from central Wyoming and L. bruneri new species from central Nebraska are immediately distinguishable from all existing species of the genus by their square mandibles.