Jundlandia lemniscata ( LeConte, 1854 ) Duran & Gough, 2022

Duran, Daniel P. & Gough, Harlan M., 2022, A new genus of tiger beetle (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) from the Nearctic and Neotropical realms, Zootaxa 5175 (2), pp. 293-299 : 296-297

Jundlandia lemniscata ( LeConte, 1854) , new combination

? cardini ( Leng & Mutchler, 1916) , incertae sedis

Discussion

The systematic placement of J. lemniscata has always been unclear, and the resulting taxonomy has not been stable. In addition to its morphological uniqueness, the most recent molecular phylogeny (Duran & Gough 2019) demonstrated that the species was found in a clade that did not correspond to any named genus. Moreover, in our examination of morphological characters, it is now evident that J. lemniscata possesses a unique combination of characters that are different from any of the other related genera (e.g. Parvindela , Brasiella ). Consequently, we erected a new monotypic genus for the species.

The species described as Cicindela cardini , was never well-studied, as it was only known from two worn specimens collected in Cuba in 1910. It bears unusual maculations that are remarkably similar to J. lemniscata . Rivalier did not examine the species in his major 1954 revision of the faune Américaine. As such, the internal structures of the aedeagus are unknown, and its taxonomic status was not resolved. It remained in Cicindela s.str. until Boyd’s (1982) checklist of the tiger beetles of North America (including Central America and the West Indies) when he placed cardini in Cicindelidia , which he considered a subgenus of Cicindela . No explanation was given for this placement, and this decision is hard to reconcile with any morphological characters.

Despite the morphological synapomorphies shared between cardini and J. lemniscata (see Results), we feel that it would be premature to include the former in Jundlandia without the additional support of molecular phylogenetic data. Future efforts to locate and collect fresh material may help to resolve the relationships between these taxa.

Our above description for Jundlandia , new genus, has been kept broad enough that it could accommodate cardini , if future research demonstrated that taxon to be congeneric with J. lemniscata . Although the two species share several characters, they also differ considerably in others. The texture of the elytral surface is not similar between the two taxa, with J. lemniscata having deeply and densely punctate elytra, forming a glittering shiny overall surface, and cardini possessing an impunctate and dull, almost velvety texture. If these taxa are congeneric, it would indicate a great degree of variability in this character.