Paradonus obliquatulus ( Melsheimer, 1845 )

Etzler Usa, Frank E., 2020, Review of the genus Paradonus Stibick, 1971 (Elateridae: Negastriinae), with three new North American species, Zootaxa 4750 (4), pp. 524-544 : 534

5. Paradonus obliquatulus ( Melsheimer, 1845) .

Figs. 4, 14.

Cryptohypnus obliquatulus Melsheimer, 1845: 214 ; LeConte 1853: 488; Candèze 1860: 90; Horn 1891: 27.

Hypnoidus obliquatulus ( Melsheimer, 1845) ; various authors.

Negastrius obliquatulus ( Melsheimer, 1845) ; various authors, noted in van Herk and Vernon 2014: 93.

Paradonus obliquatulus ( Melsheimer, 1845) ; Stibick 1991: 122; Majka et al. 2011:142; Bousquet et al. 2013: 189; van Herk and Vernon 2014: 93.

Hypnoidus felti Notman, 1921: 159 .

Diagnosis: See key above for diagnostic characters.

Over 20 specimens examined from INHS, MCZC, and LSAM.

This species is the only one that historically has consistently been considered distinct from P. pectoralis ( Stibick 1991) . Stibick stresses a piceous pronotum in his key to species, but the pronotum is often lighter in specimens I have seen. I have found many specimens of P. beckeri , P. jerseiensis , and P. pectoralis (see below) mixed under this name. Van Herk and Vernon (2014) report this species from Alberta. This record may represent a misidentification of the wide-spread P. pectoralis , which is found throughout Montana south of Alberta, as P. obliquatulus is only known as far west as Southeast South Dakota. In addition to the localities given in Stibick 1991, I add the following localities: ILLINOIS: Elgin; Havana; and Grand Tower (INHS 830141—INHS 830153). LOUISIANA: Bossier Parish (4, LSAM), new state record.

Distribution (State and Provence only): CANADA: Ontario ( Bousquet et al. 2013). USA: District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wisconsin. ( Stibick 1991, bolded states are new state records noted here).