Philodes LeConte, 1861

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 683

Genus Philodes LeConte, 1861

Philodes LeConte, 1861a: 33. Type species: Stenolophus alternans LeConte, 1853 designated by Lindroth (1968: 927). Etymology. Uncertain, possibly from the Greek philos (beloved) and the suffix - odes (likeness) [masculine].

Diversity.

Four North American species, one of them extending into the Bahamas, placed in two subgenera.

Identification.

Lindroth (1968: 925-926) treated all currently recognized species in his key to Canadian Acupalpus .

Taxonomic Note.

This taxon has been treated as a subgenus of Acupalpus by North American students since Ball (1960b: 147). However, members of the group are characteristic in having three or more discal setae on the third elytral interval and the endophallus with four large, curved spines and a basal pillow of pigmented hairs. To my knowledge, all other acupalpines have one or no discal seta on the third elytral interval. The situation regarding the sclerites in the endophallus is more complex. While most species of Acupalpus (including Anthracus ) are described as having the internal sac unarmed, there are exceptions. Jeannel (1948a: 720) reported that the endophallus of the Madagascan Anthracus madecassus Jeannel has some large spines (quelques grosses dents visibles par transparence), Habu (1981: 44) described the endophallus of Acupalpus hilaris Tschitschérine as having "four large thorn-like copulatory pieces," and Antoine (1959: 451) stated that the internal sac of Acupalpus elegans Dejean has 18 large hooks arranged in two rows (18 grands crochets à base ovale régulièrement disposés sur deux rangs, un droit et un gauche) reminiscent of the condition found in members of Stenolophus . However, in members of Philodes the four endophallus structures are proportionally bigger than in any of these species. At this time, I prefer to regard Philodes as generically distinct from Acupalpus even though Acupalpus may eventually be shown to be paraphyletic in regard to Philodes .