Pharaxonotha Reitter, 1875

Skelley, Paul E., Tang, William & Pérez-Farrera, Miguel Angel, 2022, Review of Pharaxonotha Reitter (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Pharaxonothinae) inhabiting the cycad genus Dioon Lindl. (Cycadales), with descriptions of nine new species and comments on P. kirschii Reitter, Insecta Mundi 2022 (917), pp. 1-41 : 4

Pharaxonotha Reitter

Pharaxonotha Reitter 1875: 44 . Type species. Pharaxonotha kirschii Reitter 1875: 44 , by monotypy. Pakaluk 1988: 447 (review); Skelley and Tang 2020: 3 (key).

Planismus Casey 1890: 500 . Type species: Planismus floridanus Casey 1890: 500 , by monotypy. Kingsolver 1973: 247 (synonymy); Pakaluk 1988: 447 (review); Skelley and Tang 2020: 3 (key).

Diagnosis. Pharaxonotha can be distinguished from other members of the Pharaxonothinae by the following combination of characters: antennal club of 3 antennomeres; eyes large, encroaching upon gular area; submentalgular suture apparently lacking; stridulatory files at base of head separated by distance approximately equal to width of scutellar shield; anterior pronotal margin lacking or with very fine marginal line; lateral pronotal carina narrow, same thickness along entire length; elytra with basal bead; internal abdominal calli absent; male genitalia straight, not twisted, median lobe and tegmen rotated 180 degrees when retracted into the abdomen [see Fig. 10G and Tang et al. 2020 for examples; while it is common in the Cucujoidea for the male genitalia to be rotated 90 degrees while retracted into the abdomen ( McHugh et al. 1997), 180 degrees is unusual]; median lobe cylindrical; flagellum long hair-like; tegmen flattened or not flattened, basal piece broadened and ring-like to hold coiled flagellum. Known distribution includes the Caribbean Basin from Florida and Bahamas to Greater Antillean islands of the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico; mainland from southern US and Mexico to South America as far south as Bolivia.

Figures

Figure 10. Pharaxonotha dimorpha from El Farallón, Veracruz, Mexico (B–G: male holotype). A) Female allotype, dorsal habitus. B–D) Male dorsal, lateral and ventral habitus. E–F) Male head, dorsal and ventral views. G) Tegmen attached to median lobe and genital capsule, lateral view. H) Male genital capsule, dorsal view.I) Tegmen attached to median lobe, lateral view top and ventral view bottom. J) Parameres of tegmen, ventral view top and lateral view bottom. K) Retracted ovipositor, ventral view. L) Spermatheca (fully inflated).