Valeriaaschero Erwin, new genus

(Figs. 9, 11)

Type species. Valeriaaschero flora Erwin, new species

Derivation of genus name. The generic name, Valeriaaschero, used as a feminine noun based on the first and last name of my Argentine student and good friend, Valeria Aschero, who shared with me the rediscovery of another incredibly rare and little known carabid beetle species (much like the one described here) in the Salinas Grandes of Argentina: Cicindis horni Bruch (Erwin & Aschero in prep).

Diagnosis. (Figs. 9, 11). Head ventrally without suborbital setigerous punctures; mandible widened near base, scrobe wide, lateral margin markedly rounded; antennomere 4 glabrous except for apical ring setae; neck not markedly narrowed, head not pedunculate; posterior tibial spurs subequal, their margins smooth; elytron at basal third depressed, surface uneven; penultimate setigerous puncture of elytron umbilicate series not displaced laterally; elytron without trace of tubercles, although marginal intervals with callus at apical third.

Geographic distribution. Known only from the two species, one of which is described herein from lowland forests east of the Cordilleras in Costa Rica and northwestern Panamá and the other from west of the Cordilleras in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica.

Notes. Members of this genus differ from those of Aspasiola Chaudoir, its likely adelphotaxon, by the following structural attributes: broad, non­constricted neck; quadrate pronotum; proportionately longer and narrower elytra with deeper transverse impression at anterior third, and markedly developed callus marginally at basal third; male endophallus without flagellum.