Hemicolpus Heller, 1895

Hespenheide, Henry A., 2018, Hemicolpus Heller, 1895 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Conoderinae): A Reconsideration and Description of New Species from Mexico and Central America, The Coleopterists Bulletin 72 (1), pp. 119-125 : 119

Hemicolpus Heller, 1895

Hemigaster Lacordaire 1866: 154 , not Hemigaster Brullé, 1846 .

Hemicolpus was proposed by Heller as a replacement for Hemigaster Lacordaire , which was preoccupied. The type of Hemigaster is H. cubicus Lacordaire by monotypy. Two additional South American species were described by Hustache (1932, 1938) and are treated below. In Heller’ s (1895) key to the genera of Conoderinae , Hemicolpus is distinguished by the following combination of characters: eyes acute beneath (“teardrop-shaped”), separated by rows of scales; second antennal funicular segment subequal to the first; femora not carinate or armed with a ventral tooth; second abdominal ventrite strongly convex in lateral view (“arched”); and mesosternum even, without carinae and not excavated. This last character is not true of Hemicolpus abdominalis Hustache , but generic limits in the Conoderinae are in great need of revision. In Anzaldo’ s key (2017), Hemicolpus runs to couplet 36 ( Helleriella Champion , Cylindrocopturus Heller ), both with quite different, usually relatively slender, elongate, and often smaller species. Helleriella species possess femoral teeth, whereas femora of Hemicolpus species are unarmed. Species of Cylindrocopturus , a genus almost certainly not monophyletic, have unarmed femora, but some species (e.g., Cylindrocopturus triangulifer Champion and Cylindrocopturus ganglbaueri (Heller)) have carinate femora unlike Hemicolpus . Some Cylindrocopturus species are more robust, have raised elytral intervals, and may be related to the Hemicolpus described here; genetic studies would be helpful.