Lycinella Gorham, 1884

Ferreira, Vinicius S. & Ivie, Michael A., 2018, A revision of Lycinella Gorham, 1884 with the description of six new species (Coleoptera, Lycidae, Calopterini), ZooKeys 792, pp. 69-89 : 69

Genus Lycinella Gorham, 1884

Lycinella Gorham, 1884: 248; Bertkau 1886: 290; Bourgeois 1891: 344; Pic 1921: 21; Kleine 1933: 34; Blackwelder 1945: 348; Bocáková 2003: 212, 230; Bocáková 2005: 445; Bocák and Bocáková 2008: 713.

Type species.

Lycinella opaca Gorham, 1884 (subsequent designation by Bourgeois 1891: 345)

Differential diagnosis.

Lycinella can be easily identified among other Leptolycini and Calopterini by the subserrate antennae (Figs 13-20) with antennomere III longer than II but much shorter than IV, the relatively long and strongly hooked mandibles (Figure 22), the normal maxillary palps (Figure 23) and by the presence of eight discal stemmata on the pronotum (Figure 11) and stemmata on the pro- and mesocoxae (Figure 12).

Description.

General dorsal coloration dark brown to black, with pronotum black, yellow-brown or yellow in some species bearing dark macula in discal portion or with complete longitudinal medial region (Figs 1-9). Body densely setose, dorsal pubescence long and erect, remainder of body with fine yellow pubescence throughout (Figs 1-9).

Head as long as wide, widest behind eyes, posteriorly partially covered by pronotum, hypognathous. Eyes hemispherical, projecting anterolaterally when viewed dorsally; coarsely granulate. Mouthparts: Maxillary palp four-segmented, with last palpomere acuminate, densely setose (Figure 23). Labial palp 3-segmented, palpomeres I and II subequal in length, palpomere III elongate and cylindrical, acuminate, densely setose (Figure 23). Mandibles moderately enlarged to elongate, strongly hooked apically (Figure 22). Posterior margin of epistoma emarginate, labrum wider than long or longer than wide, setose (Fig. 21). Antennae inserted on gibbous prominence; subserrate to filiform; 11-segmented, with sparse short bristle-like setae on apices of antennomeres; reaching middle of elytra; scape conical to subconical, antennomere III approx. 1.5 × longer than II, much shorter than IV; flagellomeres decreasing in length towards apex.

Prothorax: pronotum wider than long, trapezoidal; margins prominent; anterior angles round, posterior angles acute or moderately rounded; longitudinal carina in anterior portion of pronotum strongly to hardly visible, bifurcate posteriorly (Figs 1-9); eight pronotal stemmata located on edges of pronotum (Figs 1-9, 11). Hypomeron concave, hypomeral stemmata absent. Mesothorax: mesospiracles elongate, slightly protuberant (Figure 25). Prosternum V-shaped; posterior margin rounded to bifurcate and divergent; laterally reaching hypomeron (Figure 25). Mesoventrite trapezoidal, posteriorly reaching anterior margin of metaventrite, connected to mesanepisternum by additional segment, mesepimeron more densely pubescent than surrounding sclerites (Figure 25). Mesonotum (as represented by L. parvula ) divided by scutellum into halves, posteriorly divergent (Figure 25); scutellum shortened, posteriorly bifurcate, of variable size (Figs 1-9; 26). Metathorax: metaventrite convex, posterolateral angles pronounced, acute; metadiscrimen complete; metanepisternum and metepimeron elongate (Figure 25-26), metendosternite (as represented by L. parvula ) elongate, membranous, with strongly visible ventral longitudinal flange, furcal arms divergent (Figure 26). Elytra subparallel, 6-11 × longer than pronotum; reticulate, with four elytral costae more or less developed on each elytron (Figs 1-9). Membranous wings (as represented by L. parvula ) well developed (Figure 28). Legs: slender, elongate; protrochanthin slender and exposed (Figure 27); trochanters tubular; femora and tibiae quite elongate, clavate, subequal in length (Figure 27); pro- and mesocoxae conical, moderately elongate, obliquely positioned, procoxae contiguous, some species with stemmata on each pro- and mesocoxae (Figure 12), metacoxae wider than long (Figure 25); tarsomeres 5-5-5, narrowed, tarsomere four not expanded laterally (Figure 27).

Abdomen of males with eight ventrites; male genitalia symmetrical; median lobe tapered apically to stout (Figs 29-36); parameres rounded apically (Figs 29-36); phallobase elongate to slightly shortened, with posterior margin rounded or irregular (Figs 29-36).

Females.

Unknown.

Length (pronotum + elytra): 3.1-4.8 mm. Width (across humeri): 0.8-1.1 mm.

Distribution.

Lycinella is known to occur in Panama, Guatemala, and Costa Rica (Figure 37).

Biology and immature.

Females are unknown and presumably neotenic. Although information about the ecology and biology of Lycinella is unknown we can infer from the fact they were virtually all taken in Malaise traps that males of Lycinella species are flight active species.

Taxonomic placement of Lycinella

The initial tribal placement of Lycinella was difficult because it is among the genera that, like Cephalolycus Pic, 1926 and Aporrhipis Pascoe, 1887, shares features of both Calopterini and Leptolycini (see Miller 1991; Bocáková 2003, 2005; Ferreira and Ivie 2016; Ferreira et al. 2018). Bocák and Bocáková (1990) placed the genus in the Leptolycini , but based on examination of Lycinella humeralis , here moved to the Leptolycine genus Ceratoprion .

The subtribe Acroleptina ( Calopterini ), where Lycinella is currently placed, are suspected of having neotenous females ( Barancikova et al. 2010), as do the known Leptolycini ( Miller 1991, Kazantsev 2013, Ferreira and Ivie unpublished). Males of Lycinella conform to the general morphology of the groups with known or suspected neotenous females.

Ferreira and Ivie (2016) and Ferreira et al. (2018), discuss the morphological delimitation between males of Calopterini and Leptolycini , which is based on a weak tarsal character ( Miller 1991, Ferreira and Ivie 2016), and placement of taxa such as Cephalolycus , Aporrhipis and Acroleptina ( Ferreira and Ivie 2016, Kazantsev 2017) remains unclear. Although Lycinella has the narrow tarsomere IV normally present in Leptolycini , Lycinella lacks the reduced mouthparts found in all adult male Leptolycini . In the absence of molecular data or other evidence to the contrary, we place Lycinella in the Calopterini .