Hyponotum Wittmer, 1949

Constantin, Robert, 2020, A contribution to the genera Plectonotum Gorham and Hyponotum Wittmer, with the description of sixteen new species from Peru (Coleoptera, Cantharidae), Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (Pap. Avulsos Zool., S. Paulo) 60 (34), pp. 1-27 : 22

The genus Hyponotum Wittmer, 1949

The genus Hyponotum Wittmer, 1949 was erected as distinct from the genus Plectonotum in the reduced or absent pronotal bead, and in the simple pygidium, without apico-lateral protuberances. Wittmer designated Plectonotum albocinctum Pic, 1926 as the type species of Hyponotum , transferred P. grandicolle Pic, 1928 , P. ruficolle Pic, 1926 , P. violaceipenne Pic, 1928 , and P. kuscheli Wittmer, 1945 to Hyponotum and described Hyponotum mimicum . Later Wittmer (1950, 1951, 1957, 1980) described eight new species belonging to this genus and transferred others from Plectonotum . Currently, it includes 21 species ( Delkeskamp, 1977; Wittmer, 1980).

The genus has never benefited from any revision.The following key is a first attempt toward an identification key, based on types and other material preserved in the collections of Wittmer (NHMB), Pic (MNHN) and some personal ones.

This genus is not really homogeneous and the species can be separated into informal groups when a particular character is considered: a first group of species, already recognized by Wittmer, includes three species with a rough head surface, with wide areolar punctation; a group with a smooth and raised periphery of the pronotum; a group with modifications of the antennomeres of the males; other species with a lateral bead of the pronotum reduced to a small tuberosity of the anterior angles or without any bead. The distribution of this genus was known only from Chile and Argentina. Recent surveys bring to light two new species from central and north Peru, described below.