Genus Lerneca Walker, 1869

Lerneca Walker, 1869: 72 .

Type species. Lerneca varipes Walker, 1869 .

Distribution. Tropical South and Central America (French Guiana, Brazil, Surinam, Mexico Chiapas and Oaxaca, Bolivia Sara, Brazil Amazonas).

Diagnosis. See Desutter-Grandcolas (1992a: 114).

Phylogenetic relationships. Lerneca belongs to the C-group defined according to male genitalic characters (Desutter 1990). According to the molecular phylogeny obtained by Chintauan-Marquier et al. (submit.), Lerneca is closely related to Microlerneca de Mello, 1995, Aracamby de Mello, 1993 and Prosthama Hebard, 1928, no other putative genera of the C-group being in the data matrix. The first two genera have been placed previously in this genus group (de Mello 1995, Desutter-Grandcolas 1995); the position of Prosthama will be checked by morphological studies (Desutter-Grandcolas in prep.).