Mycolybas Crotch, 1876

Lopes, Peterson Lásaro, 2006, Taxonomic revision of Mycolybas Crotch, 1876 (Coleoptera: Erotylidae), Zootaxa 1373, pp. 1-35 : 5-6

Mycolybas Crotch, 1876

Mycolybas Crotch 1876: 474 ; Kuhnt 1909: 56, 91; Deelder 1942: 53; Alvarenga 1965: 86; Alvarenga 1994: 44 [cat.].

Type species: Lybas lucidus Lacordaire, 1842: 232 [original designation].

Etymology: mykes— “fungus” in Greek, and Lybas . Lybas is the name of a mischievous phantom from the Italian mythology. According to this legend, he is the soul of Polites, killed in the Troy conquest by Neoptolemus, defeated and banished by the famous athlete Euthymos from Lokroi.

Diagnosis: color pattern without bands or spots (fig. 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10); stridulatory files absent (fig. 20–22); eighth antennomere wide, club flattened with three antennomeres (fig. 23, 24); fourth maxillary palpomere securiform (fig. 35–40); mental plate pentagonal (fig. 45, 46); humeri protuberant (fig. 1, 3, 6, 5, 8, 10, 17–19, 47–54).

Redescription: length: 4–9 mm. Body oval or ovoid (fig. 15, 16). Integument shiny (fig. 1–10), color of sternites often lighter and less strong than dorsal color (fig. 4, 7).

Head (fig. 20–22): eyes finely faceted; ocular striae reaching posterior margin of eyes (fig. 20). Antennae (fig. 23–24): darker and more pubescent towards club. Labrum (fig. 25–26): with long setae on distal half. Maxillae (fig. 35–40): palpomeres 1–3 long, first longer, fourth securiform. Labium (fig. 45–46): first palpomere with curved base, longer than second and shorter than third, third widened distally; mental plate with setae long and sparse.

Thorax (fig. 1–10, 17–19, 47–60): pronotum with punctation sparse. Scutellum pentagonal. Metasternum (fig. 2, 4, 7, 9, 57, 58): punctation sparse. Legs (fig. 1–10, 57–59, 61–64): femora punctation sparse, medially widened; tibiae longitudinally crested, wider and more hirsute distally. Elytra (fig. 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 7–19, 47–54): punctation diameter 0.04 to 0.02 mm; 7–10 striae, the last incomplete. Membranous wings (fig. 55–56): covered with microtrichia; radial cell triangular.

Abdomen (fig. 2, 4, 7, 9, 57, 58): ventrites with punctation small, sparse, and few short Geographical distribution: Honduras (Francisco Morazán), El Salvador (Cabañas), Costa Rica (Guanacaste, Heredia, Limón, San José), Panama (Chiriqui), Colombia (Cundinamarca), Venezuela (Zulia), Bolivia (Cochabamba), Brazil (Amazonas, Pará, Bahia, Mato Grosso, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul), Peru, Paraguay (Alto Paraná, Cordillera, Caazapá, Itapúa), Argentina (Misiones).