Nicrophorus mexicanus Matthews, 1888

Mullins, Patricia L., Riley, Edward G. & Oswald, John D., 2013, Identification, distribution, and adult phenology of the carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) of Texas, Zootaxa 3666 (2), pp. 221-251 : 234

Nicrophorus mexicanus Matthews, 1888

Figs. 27 , 40 , 53

Necrophorus mexicanus Matthews, 1888: 91 (see Sikes et al. (2002) for further citations).

Diagnosis. Body length 15–20 mm, entirely black except for transverse anterior and posterior elytral maculae redorange; epipleuron red-orange except for small subhumeral black fleck, anteriorly glabrous; anterior and posterior elytral maculae not joined laterally, with borders deeply incised; anterior elytral maculae broadly joined to epipleuron and suture, not extended interiorly below humerus; posterior elytral macula not reaching epipleuron (usually) or elytral suture. Antennal club orange with basal segment black. Pronotum subquadrate with anterior transverse suture, disc glabrous, lateral margins broad. Dorsal surface of elytron without long hairs. Epipleural ridge extended to point below or almost below humeral callus. Lateral portion of metasternum densely covered with brownish hairs. Posterior lobe of metepimeron glabrous or nearly so. Tarsal empodium bisetose.

Range. Colorado south to Texas, west to Nevada and Arizona (Peck & Kaulbars 1987), and south to central Mexico (Peck & Anderson 1985).

Texas distribution. See Fig. 53 . This species is confined to the Chihuahuan and Navahonian biotic provinces of Texas. It occurs in the trans-Pecos Texas vegetational area. Confirmed counties (4): Brewster, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Reeves. Collections: SRSU, TAMU, TTU, UTIC.

Seasonality in Texas. See Fig. 40 . The adult seasonality profile of this species (based on 27 occurrence records: Appendix I) is unimodal, with a large peak from spring to early fall. The months of June and September have few occurrence records but this is likely due to under sampling of far western Texas.

Biological notes. Peck and Anderson (1985) report that in southwestern United States through Mexico to northern Central America , this species occurs from semi-arid and open thorn scrub to moist closed-canopy cloud forests.

Data from examined labels. Collecting methods: black light trap, dung trap. Habitat records: pine–fir [dung trap in Guadalupe Mountains National Park], found at lake, oak–fir–ponderosa pine forest (Big Bend National Park), aspen–maple ( Guadalupe Mountains National Park), oak piñon woodland. Carrion records: on carrion. All Texas localities are from the western Texas trans-Pecos vegetational area and almost all are from mountainous habitats. One specimen is labeled from a non-mountainous locality (Balmorhea, Reeves County). Anduaga and Huerta (2001) and Anduaga (2009) completed a detailed study of the reproductive biology of this species.

Figures

FIGURES 24 – 30. Habitus of Texas Nicrophorus. 24, N. americanus; 25, N. carolinus; 26, N. marginatus; 27, N. mexicanus; 28, N. pustulatus; 29, N. orbicollis; 30, N. tomentosus. All scale bars = 10 mm.

FIGURES 37 – 42. Adult seasonality profiles based on occurrence records for Texas Silphidae, Nicrophorinae (part). 37, Nicrophorus americanus; 38, N. carolinus; 39, N. marginatus; 40, N. mexicanus; 41, N. orbicollis; 42, N. pustulatus. For an explanation of occurrence record calculations, see Methods.

FIGURES 50 – 55. Distribution maps for Texas Silphidae, Nicrophorinae (part). 50, Nicrophorus americanus; 51, N. carolinus; 52, N. marginatu s; 53, N. mexicanus; 54, N. orbicollis; 55, N. pustulatus.