Enoclerus crabronarius ( Spinola, 1844 )

Rifkind, Jacques, 2017, New species of Mutillid Mimicking Enoclerus Gahan (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Clerinae) from Mexico and Central America, Zootaxa 4231 (3), pp. 409-420 : 410

Enoclerus crabronarius ( Spinola, 1844)

Clerus crabronarius Spinola 1844: 247 , t. 23, f. 1 (original description); LeConte 1852: 21 (synopsis of U.S. clerid fauna). Enoclerus crabronarius Wolcott 1927:61 (identification and distribution comments); Corporaal 1950:150 (catalogue); 1950:164 (mention of confusion with E. vetus Wolcott ); Rifkind 2012:1

(discussion of crabronarius group complex).

The identity and distribution of E. crabronarius has been a source of some confusion since its description in 1844. Spinola (1844) described it from a specimen in Dejean’s collection reportedly collected in “L’Amérique septentrionale.” As Wolcott (1927) asserted, however, no specimens are known from north of México, and thus the exact provenance of the holotype remains uncertain. In his catalog of the Cleridae, Corporaal (1950) lists E. crabronarius from Texas (the citation followed by a question mark) and this record probably stems from previous authors’ confusion of this species with E. vetus Wolcott , a Texan and northern Mexican species with significantly different markings and elytral sculpturing. An accurate and comprehensive diagnosis of E. crabronarius remains elusive. A set of high resolution photographs of the holotype of Clerus (= Enoclerus ) crabronariu s ( Figs 12–13 ) shows a specimen with much of its original vestiture abraded, and markings possibly discolored with age. Nevertheless, these photographs, in combination with Spinola's original description and figure (1844), make it possible to summarize the salient, if not sufficient, diagnostic characters of this species, as follows:

- Large size (length greater than 9.0 mm)

- Elytra without basal strigae, carinae or maculae

- Elytral subbasal tumescences or tubercles absent

- Dorsal vestiture black, except as follows: head with a covering of whitish setae; pronotal posterior and anterior margins with a covering of whitish setae of moderate length; elytral anterior with an inverted triangular patch of whitish setae; median elytral maculae covered with pale yellowish setae; elytral apices covered with whitish setae, eclipsed at middle on either side by a large black macula.

- Middle of each elytron with a rather large, yellow or yellow-orange macula, rounded internally, at most moderately narrowed laterally, and attaining lateral margins. Integument otherwise black.

Although specimens that meet these criteria have been collected in recent years in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, they nevertheless exhibit significant variation both within and between populations. It remains impossible at this time to say definitively whether they represent one or more species, or even which of these might be conspecific with the holotype of E. crabronarius . These specimens will therefore not be treated in this paper. The collection of more material, coupled with molecular analysis, may eventually solve these questions. The taxa described below were selected for description on the basis of three criteria: they can be sorted reliably as morphospecies, they differ significantly from the holotype of E. crabronarius and any other described congeners, and the most similar among them appear to be allopatric.

Figures

FIGURES 12 – 13. Holotype of Enoclerus crabronarius. (12) Dorsal habitus. (13) Lateral view.