Eleodes (Eleodes) spinipes Solier, 1848

Triplehorn, Charles A., 2010, Notes on Three Species ofEleodesEschscholtz (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and Description of a New Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 64 (4), pp. 373-378 : 376-377

Eleodes (Eleodes) spinipes Solier, 1848 ( Figs. 5–10 ; Map 3)

Eleodes spinipes Solier, 1848: 238 . Holotype not found in MNHN [I have accepted Champion’ s (1884) interpretation of this form; all specimens in TNMH are from Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí, and have the distinctly subsulcate elytra, which is characteristic of this nominate subspecies]. Champion 1884: 77, tab. 4, fig. 2; Pallister 1954: 37.

Eleodes ventricosa LeConte, 1858: 186 . Holotype, female, MCZC #4614, red disc label= Texas [Texas, near the Rio Grande River, LeConte]. Horn 1870: 303, 311; Blaisdell 1909: 235, 300.

Eleodes spinipes ventricosus LeConte, 1858 . New status.

Eleodes macrura Champion, 1892: 511 [misspelled as Elaeodes ]. Holotype, male, TNHM, Villa Lerdo , Durango, Mexico, Höge.

Eleodes spinipes macrurus Champion, 1892 . New status.

Eleodes ventricosa var. falli Blaisdell, 1909: 235 , 395. Holotype, female, NMNH, El Paso,

Texas. New synonymy [of E. spinipes macrurus Champion ].

After examining and collecting specimens of E. spinipes , E. ventricosus , and E. macrurus , I have concluded these all represent different populations or subspecies of the same species, E. spinipes . This large, robust species has distinct profemoral teeth only in the male; the profemur of the female is strongly sinuate near the apex. The male has the plantar surface of the basal protarsomere closed by a tuft of golden setae. There are three fairly distinct subspecies which may be separated as follows:

1. Elytra distinctly sulcate, intervals convex; male with elytral apex simply attenuate (slightly more so than in female)..................................... ............................... E. spinipes spinipes Solier

1.′ Elytra punctate-striate, intervals flat; male with distinct cauda....................................................2

2. Elytra ventricose in both sexes, but especially so in female; male with cauda deflexed; pronotum with basal angles so obtuse as to appear rounded; apical angles acute, but not everted; elytral strial punctures fine, with punctures of intervals even finer............................... ..................... E. spinipes ventricosus LeConte

2.′ Elytra parallel-sided, especially in male; male with cauda more or less horizontal; pronotum with basal angles obtuse, angulate; apical angles acute, prolonged and usually everted; elytra much more finely punctate-striate, with punctures of intervals usually subequal to those of striae.................................................. .................. E. spinipes macrurus Champion

Remarks. I have seen many specimens from Durango (type locality of E. s. macrurus ) and many from the Big Bend region of Texas, and there is no question that E. s. falli is identical to E. s. macrurus . The south-central and Lower Rio Grande Valley subspecies (E. s. ventricosus ) is appropriately named since females are the most ventricose of the three subspecies. Ecologically, the nominate subspecies occurs in the highlands of eastern and central Mexico, while most records for the other two are from lower elevations. In the United States, the break between the eastern and western subspecies appears to be the Pecos River. I have seen very few specimens that I could not readily separate to subspecies, nor have I encountered any that appear to be intergrades, although I would be surprised if they would not interbreed where they interface. There are no apparent genitalic differences in either sex.

Distribution. The nominate subspecies is found in the Mexican states of Coahuila, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas. Eleodes spinipes macrurus occurs in the Mexican states of Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Zacatecas, and in western Texas and extreme southern New Mexico in the United States. Eleodes spinipes ventricosus occurs in the Mexican states of eastern Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas, and in southern Texas in the United States.

Figures

Figs. 1–12. Eleodes spp., habiti. 1) E. anachronus, female; 2) E. anachronus, male; 3) E. hepburni, female; 4) E. hepburni, male; 5) E. spinipes spinipes, female; 6) E. spinipes spinipes, male; 7) E. spinipes ventricosus, female; 8) E. spinipes ventricosus, male; 9) E. spinipes macrurus, female; 10) E. spinipes macrurus, male; 11) E. arcuatus, female; 12) E. arcuatus, male.