Chelicerca Ross, 1940

Szumik, Claudia, Pereyra, Veronica, Szumik, Victoria E. Goloboff, Costa-Pinto, Paula Jessica & Juarez, Maria Laura, 2022, Embioptera (Insecta) from Brazil: New species and a taxonomic update, ZooKeys 1088, pp. 129-171 : 129

Genus Chelicerca Ross, 1940

Anisembia (Chelicerca) Ross, 1940: 656, as subgenus of Anisembia Krauss, type species Anisembia (Chelicerca) davisi Ross by original designation.

Chelicerca Ross, 1944: 448; Szumik 1996: 51-52, redelimitation of genus and cladistic analysis/phylogeny; Ross 2003: 67, redescription; Szumik et al. 2008: 999-1001, redelimitation of genus and cladistic analysis-phylogeny; Miller 2009: 7, catalog; Szumik et al. 2019: 9, tympanal hearing, silk ejectors, leg chaetotaxy, phylogeny.

Chelicerca (Protrochelicerca) Ross, 1944: 449, type species Chelicerca dampfi Ross; 1984b: 30, as synonym of Chelicerca Ross.

Anisembia (Dactylocerca) Ross, 1940: 659, as subgenus of Anisembia Krauss, type species Anisembia (Dactylocerca) rubra Ross by original designation; 1944: 454, as subgenus of Chelicerca .

Dactylocerca 1984a: 85, genus status; 1984b: 37, diagnosis; Szumik 1996: 51-54, as junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross; Ross 2003: 78, diagnosis, composition; Szumik et al. 2008: 999, as probable junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross; confirmed junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross.

Schizembia Ross, 1944: 440, type species Schizembia grandis Ross; 1984a: 30, as junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross; 2003: 59, changed status; Szumik et al. 2008: 999-1001, as probable junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross; new junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross.

Pelorembia Ross, 1984a: 41, type species Pelorembia tumidiceps Ross; Szumik 1996: 51-54, as junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross; Ross 2003: 89, diagnosis; Szumik et al. 2008: 999, as probable junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross; confirmed junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross.

Cryptembia Ross, 2003: 49, type species Cryptembia amazonica Ross; Szumik et al. 2008: 999-1001, as probable junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross; new junior synonym of Chelicerca Ross.

Diagnosis.

10T with completely separate hemitergites, 10Lp1 and 10Rp1 usually with discoidal form ending with a spine. H globose, Hp elongate, ending with a complex apical margin, in some cases ending in a spine-shaped lobe, in other cases ending truncated or in two small lobes; Rpp totally fused to Hp and almost inconspicuous.

Composition and distribution.

According to Szumik (1996), Szumik et al. (2008), and the last cladistical analysis of the Order ( Szumik et al. 2019), the genera Pelorembia , Dactylocerca , Schizembia , and Cryptembia were previously treated as probable junior synonym of Chelicerca and here these synonymies are confirmed (see below for relationships). Thus, the genus Chelicerca contains 76 species distributed from the southern United States to Argentina ( Szumik 1998b, 2001; Ross 2003). In Brazil six species described by Ross (2003) occur and one new species described below. Four of the species described by Ross (2003) were originally described in Cryptembia , here designated a new junior synonym of Chelicerca .

Herein we only list the seven species of Chelicerca present in Brazil: Chelicerca achilata sp. nov., see below; Chelicerca amazonica (Ross, 2003) comb. nov.; Chelicerca manauara (Ross, 2003) comb. nov.; Chelicerca paraense (Ross, 2003) comb. nov.; Chelicerca rioensis Ross, 2003; Chelicerca rondonia (Ross, 2003); Chelicerca rossi nom. nov. because Chelicerca rondonia Ross, 2003 is a junior primary homonym of Cryptembia rondonia Ross, 2003 and is transferred to Chelicerca (see Catalog). New locality records for C. manaurara are added for two states of Brazil (see Catalog).

Distribution.

America.

Relationships.

Chelicerca appeared as a paraphyletic group in all the phylogenetic analyses performed for the Order Embioptera ( Szumik 1996; Szumik et al. 2008, 2019; Miller et al. 2012). Pelorembia and Dactylocerca appeared included in the Chelicerca clade and therefore were proposed as junior synonyms of Chelicerca by Szumik (1996). Subsequently, and by including new taxa and characters, Szumik et al. (2008) found a similar resolution for the three genera plus the inclusion of two other genera, Schizembia and Cryptembia , the five forming a monophyletic group, highly supported by some synapomorphies and almost no homoplasy. In the study of Miller et al. (2012), the three analyzed species of Chelicerca appeared also closely related to Cryptembia and Dactylocerca . As the genera Schizembia and Cryptembia , in addition to Pelorembia and Dactylocerca , appeared as non-monophyletic and their species as members of Chelicerca ( Szumik et al. 2019), these four genera are being confirmed and proposed as synonymous juniors of Chelicerca in this work.