ABSTRACT
Myzomorphus Sallé is a charismatic genus of prionine longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) composed of nine species. Myzomorphus species are found from Costa Rica to southern Brazil, but only two species have wide distributions across this range: M. scutellatus Sallé from Costa Rica to northern Brazil, and M. quadripunctatus (Gray) from Colombia to southern Brazil. These species are highly polymorphic and their limits are difficult to determine due to their strong morphological similarities--males are only distinguishable by subtle size variations and females by color patterns. Here, we used mitochondrial DNA (cox1 and 12S) to reconstruct the first phylogeny of Myzomorphus and, in combination with morphological data, assess the taxonomic limits between M. scutellatus and M. quadripunctatus. Our phylogenetic results confirm the monophyly of Myzomorphus and reveal a close relationship among M. birai, M. quadripunctatus and M. scutellatus. Using pairwise distance estimations, we found that the intraspecific variation of M. quadripunctatus is remarkably high (K2P: 0-11.7%; p-distances: 0-9.7%) and the interspecific distances of M. quadripunctatus in relation to M. birai and M. scutellatus (K2P: 14.8-20.1%; p-distances: 12-15%) are close to the intraspecific distances of M. quadripunctatus. We further analyzed the diagnostic characters of these species and found that their morphological intraspecific variations largely overlap. Altogether, our results demonstrate that the variability of M. birai, M. scutellatus and M. quadripunctatus represent polymorphisms of a single species. We thus argue for the synonymy of M. birai and M. scutellatus under M. quadripunctatus (syn. nov.) and highlight the need for multiple lines of evidence to solve the taxonomic problems in polymorphic species of Cerambycidae.
ABSTRACT
A synopsis of the flat-faced longhorned beetle genus Pseudocriopsis Melzer, 1931 is presented. Pseudocriopsis abare sp. nov. is described from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pseudocriopsis arthuri Audureau, 2017 is transferred to Leptostylus LeConte, 1852, as Leptostylus arthuri comb. nov.
Subject(s)
Coleoptera , AnimalsABSTRACT
Chaetonerius Hendel is the only native genus of Neriidae from the African continent, with 21 species described. Although widely distributed across the Afrotropical region, the species of Chaetonerius are still poorly known and recent efforts are being devoted to clarify the taxonomy of the family and discover its diversity. Here, we describe a new neriid species from Tanzania, Chaetonerius stichodactylus sp. n. Illustrations of the male holotype, including the external and internal genitalia, are presented and a key for the species of Neriidae of Tanzania is provided.
Subject(s)
Diptera , Animal Distribution , Animals , Genitalia , Male , TanzaniaABSTRACT
A revision of the genus Ateralphus Restello, Iannuzzi & Marinoni, 2001, based on the detailed study of the morphology of the type-species and on the external morphology and terminalia of the others species is presented. The genus and species are redescribed and three new species are described. The genus is composed of nine species: A. dejeani (Lane, 1973), A. javariensis (Lane, 1965), A. lacteus Galileo & Martins, 2006, A. senilis (Bates, 1862), A. subsellatus (White, 1855), A. variegatus (Mendes, 1938), A. auritarsus new species, A. lucianeae new species and A. tumidus new species. A key for identification of the species and maps of their geographical distribution are provided.
