Lutosa Walker, 1869

Redescription. Body small to mid-sized (18 – 35 mm), tegmentum smooth, dorsal surface yellowish or dark brown to black (Figs. 1A, 2A, B, 4A,B, 5A, 6). Face, legs, and ventral region of the body ocher, light brown, and on a few occasions, dark brown, some species with white spots on the apex of the legs, mainly on the hind femur. Head in dorsal view as wide as pronotum, in front view ovoid, taller than wide. Vertex rounded. Eyes ovoid, not protruding. Ocelli circular or ovoid, large and well defined, the ocelli of similar size and shape. Eyes and antennal pits located a little higher than middle of the face. Fastigium moderately wide, almost twice as wide as the scape, lateral edges rounded, ventral edge curved. Mandibles of the male without sexual specialization. Maxillary palpi longer, first and second subequal in size and rectangular; third cylindrical almost two times longer than the first and second together; fourth slightly longer than the third, five almost as long as the fourth with the apex dilated and rounded (Figs. 4A, 5C, 9A). Thorax in lateral view, markedly curved. Pronotum prominent, cylindrical, anterior margin straight, slightly projecting above the head, posterior margin slightly rounded, lateral lobes rectangular, wider than tall, ventral margin rounded, anterior and posterior margins generally straight (Figs. 1A, 2A,B, 4A,B, 5A, 6). Meso- and metanota unmodified and without glandular pits. Prosternum armed with a pair of closely spaced conical spines. Mesosternum small with triangular lateral lobes divided from the base. Metasternum smaller than the mesosternum, anterior lobe narrow, pentagonal and twice as long as wide, lateral lobes narrow, wider than long, and outer edges with a non-sharp spine-like prolongation. Wings absent. Legs. Fore and middle coxae with a medium-sized dorsal spine; anterior and middle femora without spines. Fore tibia with (Figs. 1C, 4B) or without tympana (Figs. 10C); armed dorsally and ventrally with a variable number of spurs, in the same way as the mid-tibia. Hind femur unarmed, sometimes with tiny triangular undulations, little visible, outer side with well-developed chevrons relief, occupying most of the outer face and with 9 to 14 chevron stripes. Hind tibia curved or not, dorsally armed with spines, and with a preapical conspicuous spur on each side, and the apex armed with three spurs, the ventral and medial ones are small, subequal in length, but the median is slightly longer. The dorsal spur is conspicuous compared to the other two spurs, seven to ten times longer than the median spur (Fig. 4F). Mesoepimerum and mesoepisternum developed, forming two folds visible below the connection of pro- and mesothorax (Figs. 1C, 5C, 10C). Genicular lobes of fore and mid femora unarmed, genicular lobe of hind femur with a small ventral spine. Tarsi thin, without modifications, and unarmed dorsally (Fig. 4F). Abdomen cylindrical, first two or three tergites with small, widely spaced granules. Tenth tergite divided in the middle, forming two ovoid lobes on each side, dorsal margin with two conical and sclerosed hooks (Figs. 2C, 7D). Epiproct triangular, separated from the tenth tergite by a membranous area (Figs. 2C, 7D). Cerci cylindrical and covered by hairs. Paraprocts unarmed (Fig. 7D) or armed by sclerotized processes (Fig. 2E) that vary in shape and size across species. Subgenital plate with styles, apex in dorsal view without modification (Figs. 2F, 7B), or sclerotized plates near the base of the styli (Figs. 8D, E), varying from quadrangular or spiniform plates. Male genitalia. With several sclerotized areas, such as titillatory processes (ti), and titillator’s sclerites (TS), TS usually shoulder-blade shaped. Dorsal lobe membranous but covered by circular microstructures, ejv absent (Fig. 3).

Female. Similar to the male in shape and size (Figs. 1A, 4A, 5A, 9A, 10A). Tenth tergite medially divided (Figs. 1D, 5D). Epiproct mostly triangular and without modification (Figs. 4E, 10D). Cerci cylindrical and moderately elongated. Ovipositor almost as long as hind femur, thin, smooth, and shiny valves, with different angles of curvature and with the apex always pointed (Figs. 1E, 4G, 5E, 10F); base of the ovipositor, mainly the upper valves, inflated (Figs. 1D, 5D, 10D). Subgenital plate predominantly triangular (Figs. 4D, 5F, 10E), but some species have a subgenital plate rectangular (Fig. 9D) or with a conspicuous notch on the posterior edge (Fig. 1F).

Taxa included. The species listed here are those that are considered valid according to the results of this contribution: Lutosa marginalis Walker, 1869 (type species), L. cubaensis (Haan, 1843), L. brasiliensis (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888), L. goeldiana (Saussure & Pictet, 1897), L. paranensis Rehn, 1911, L. imitata Levada & Diniz Filho, 1993, L. anomala Gorochov, 2001, L. normalis Gorochov, 2001, L. morsellii Cadena-Castañeda n. sp., and L. quaresmai Cadena-Castañeda & Tavares n. sp. Other species that have been included in Lutosa before this contribution were relocated or synonymized, as can be evidenced throughout this document.

Distribution. Atlantic Forest and Amazon (Map 1).

Comments. This is the type genus of the subfamily or tribe Lutosinae /ini. Despite being the type genus, its status is not entirely resolved since the females of the subfamily are mostly similar. For example, the type species of the genus is Lutosa marginalis, which the type specimen is a female, from an unknown locality, thus making the comparison with other congeneric species or with those of very similar genera difficult.

Pherterus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1888 was synonymized under Lutosa . Several taxa proposed by Brunner von Wattenwyl were later synonymized to the taxa described by Walker since the first did not know the contributions of the second. In their different monographs, they coincided in the description of taxa (Cadena-Castañeda 2012). Lutosa currently includes 13 species distributed in Mexico, South America, and the Antilles; some of these little-studied species will be treated here: