Paratenetus Spinola, 1844

Bousquet, Yves & Bouchard, Patrice, 2014, Review of the species of Paratenetus Spinola inhabiting America, north of Mexico (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae), ZooKeys 415, pp. 23-51 : 25-26

Genus Paratenetus Spinola, 1844

Paratenetus Spinola, 1844: 116. Type species: Paratenetus punctatus Spinola, 1844 designated by Lucas (1920: 483).

Storthephora Mäklin, 1875: 658. Type species: Storthephora denticollis Mäklin, 1875 by present designation. Synonymy established by Champion (1893: 47).

Etymology.

Spinola (1844: 117) mentioned that the name Paratenetus came from a Greek adjective which supposedly means "Digne d’être observé” (worthy of being observed). The idea for the name came from the peculiar shape of the palpi and particularly the flattening of the first two labial palpomeres.

Description

(based on species treated only). Body short, convex, pubescent; elytra with slanting setae in addition to erect setae. Epistoma with clypeolabral membrane exposed. Eyes present, prominent. Gena not sulcate. Antenna with last three antennomeres abruptly expanded, forming a distinct, loose club. Labial palpi short, penultimate palpomere swollen, last palpomere narrow, more or less fusiform; last maxillary palpomere large, at least twice as large apically than basally. Pronotum with sides denticulate, each denticle with one or two stiff setae; surface with relatively coarse punctures. Procoxae moderately separated. Mesepimeron not closing mesocoxal cavity. Elytra without striae, with relatively coarse punctures; epipleuron distinct and relatively wide up to apex. Abdomen with distinct membrane along posterior edge of ventrites 3 and 4. Intercoxal process of first ventrite relatively wide, more or less rounded apically. Tibia not expanded apically. Metatarsomere 1 elongate, as long as next two tarsomeres combined; penultimate tarsomere deeply lobate dorsally; last tarsomere not arising at apex of penultimate tarsomere. Tarsal claw simple, not pectinate. Tarsal formula 5-5-4. Defensive glands absent.

Diversity.

This genus currently includes 57 species (Table 1) ranging collectively from Canada, as far north as southern Northwest Territories, south to Argentina.

Taxonomic position.

Spinola (1844) originally placed Paratenetus in his Clérites Corynétoïdes (currently Cleridae : Korynetinae ). Agassiz (1846: 119) listed it in the family “Tenebrionites.” Melsheimer (1853: 45) transferred the genus to the family Cryptophagidae . LeConte (1862: 232) moved Paratenetus back in the family Tenebrionidae , and placed it in the tribe Heterotarsini , a position that was followed by several authors including Horn (1870: 373), Gebien (1911: 471), Leng (1920: 236), Gebien (1941: 821) and Arnett (1962: 688). In 1918, Leng mentioned that "the genera Paratenetus , Prataeus and Anaedus seem to be near the Lagriidae on account of the similarity in their larval stages" and Böving and Craighead (1931: 42) moved the genera of Heterotarsini (except Heterotarsus Latreille) from the tenebrionids to the lagriids based also on the morphology of the larvae. The study of the ovipositor structures by Tschinkel and Doyen (1980: 367) supported also the position of Paratenetus within the subfamily Lagriinae rather than the subfamily Tenebrioninae . Ardoin (1961: 33) placed the genera of Heterotarsini (except Heterotarsus ) in the lagriine subtribe Lupropina of the tribe Adeliini . Parsons (1976: 211) listed Paratenetus in the lagriid subfamily Lupropinae . Doyen and Tschinkel (1982: 183) indicated that the genus may belong to the belopines, currently a valid lagriine tribe. Campbell (1991: 261) listed Paratenetus in the lagriid subfamily Goniaderinae and Aalbu et al. (2002a: 509; 2002b: 484) retained also the genus in the lagriine tribe Goniaderini . On the other hand, Ferrer and Ødegaard (2005: 648) included it in the lagriine tribe Lupropini following Ardoin (1961) and Parsons (1976).

We did not investigate the taxonomic position of the genus Paratenetus but we accept, following Aalbu et al. (2002a; 2002b), its placement in the tribe Goniaderini of the subfamily Lagriinae within the Tenebrionidae .

Biology.

The biology of members of Paratenetus is poorly known. Many of the specimens seen in this study were collected in leaf litter in forested areas or in nests of the tent caterpillar genus Malacosoma ( Lepidoptera : Lasiocampidae ). All three winged species have been collected at black light. Steiner (1995: 508) commented that Paratenetus species pupate on the inner surfaces of rolled dead leaves (in which the larvae live) either hanging on fallen tree branches or on the ground.

Notes.

There are two types of setae on the elytra of Paratenetus : erect and slanting. The slanting setae are characterized as subdepressed when the angle between the base of the seta and the elytra is between 10 and 40°, semierect when the angle is between 40 and 60°, and suberect when the angle is between 60 and 80°.

Key to North American (north of Mexico) species of Paratenetus