Zikanius Grossi & Paulsen

Grossi, Paschoal C., 2009, Generic limits in South American stag beetles: taxa currently misplaced in Sclerostomus Burmeister (Coleoptera: Lucanidae: Lucaninae: Sclerostomini), Zootaxa 2139, pp. 23-42 : 33-34

Zikanius Grossi & Paulsen , new genus

Type species: Sclerostomus aurocinctus Boileau 1899: 298 , HERE DESIGNATED.

Description. Length: 15–19 mm. Width: 6–7 mm. Sexually dimorphic. Head: Form transverse and smooth in male, subquadrate and entirely punctate in female. Frons strongly semicircularly excavated in male; less strongly excavated in female. Male mandibles as long as head, strongly curved inward, carinate dorsally; apices acute to truncate (not bifurcate), internally with strong basal tooth, 1–2 smaller teeth distally; ventral surface lacking row of setae. Female mandibles smaller than head, weakly curved inward, with an acute forward directed tooth. Antennae with 10 antennomeres, geniculate; scape as long as antennomeres 2–10, weakly curved with slight dorsal groove at apices; pedicel trapezoidal and somewhat curved; club with 3 antennomeres, first and second antennomeres elongated with distal margin tomentose, third antennomere suboval with apical half tomentose. Pronotum: Sides nearly parallel at middle, disc convex (more strongly so in females). Anterior margin with produced, paired tubercles in males only. Anterior angles truncated in males and subacute in females, slightly convergent to head. Elytra: Body elongate, subparallel, with elytra weakly convex. Surface entirely, irregularly punctate; punctures larger basally. Lateral marginal with band of long setae. Wings: Brachypterous species with wings reaching middle of elytral. Legs: Protibiae serrate. Mesotibiae armed with 2–4 external teeth; teeth increasing in size distally. Metatibiae with 1 external tooth only. Abdomen: Venter with lateral edges of each sternite ribbed; surface finely granulate with sparse setose punctures; fifth sternite more densely punctate. Male genitalia: Genital capsule and aedeagus (Figs. 2 and 5) simple (lacking lobes or processes). Internal sac (Fig. 5a) permanently everted, setose, longer than aedeagus, with base abruptly expanded in basal fifth. Median lobe sclerotized, broad, with apex bifurcate. Parameres symmetrical, quadrate with longitudinal ribbing present.

Distribution. Brazil: Rio de Janeiro: Itatiaia.

Etymology. The name Zikanius is a patronym dedicated to Joseph Francisco Zikán, who collected extensively and studied insects in Brazil between the years of 1902 and 1949. Specifically, he made important contributions to the knowledge of the Hymenoptera of the Serra da Mantiqueira. He also collected several species of Lucanidae and other beetles, some of which, like the current species, not having been collected since. Zikanius is masculine in gender.

Diagnosis. Zikanius aurocinctus is distinct among South American Sclerostomini in possessing a dense band of long, marginal setae (not scales) on the elytra, as well as two anterior tubercles that are produced from the anteriomedial margin of the pronotum in males. The male genitalia differ significantly from those of Sclerostomus species in lacking complex lobes and projections on the genital capsule. In this respect, the male genitalia approach the form found in the predominantly Chilean genera Apterodorcus Arrow , Pycnosiphorus Solier , and Chileistomus Weinreich. However , the elytral scale pattern of species in those genera consists entirely of scales, or is lacking ( Apterodorcus ). Additionally, the apex of the male mandibles are simply rounded in Zikanius , not bifurcate as in Altitatiayus , Sclerostomus , or Metadorcinus and are ventrally totally glabrous (lacking the row of ventral setae present in Sclerostomus , Metadorcinus , and Scortizus maculatus ).