Apallodes Reitter, 1873

Gimmel, Matthew L., 2013, <strong> Genus-level revision of the family Phalacridae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) </ strong>, Zootaxa 3605 (1), pp. 1-147 : 97-100

26. Apallodes Reitter, 1873

( Figs. 29 ; 41f )

Apallodes Reitter 1873: 130 . Type species: Apallodes palpalis Reitter 1873 , fixed by monotypy.

Litolibrus Sharp 1889: 258 . Type species: Litolibrus obesus Sharp 1889 , fixed by subsequent designation. Syn. nov. Sphaeropsis Guillebeau 1893 a: 295 . Type species: Sphaeropsis simoni Guillebeau 1893 , fixed by monotypy. Syn. nov. Gyromorphus Guillebeau 1894 a: 283 . Type species: Sphaeropsis simoni Guillebeau 1893 , fixed by original designation. Syn. nov.

Type material. Apallodes palpalis Reitter : one syntype found, here designated as lectotype, female, “ Parahyba \ [handwritten, illegible, green label] // Brazil [handwritten,green label] // [handwritten, illegible] // Type [handwritten] // 258 [handwritten, yellow label] // Apallodes \ palpalis m. [handwritten] // LECTOTYPE ♀ \ Apallodes \ palpalis Reitter \ des. M.L. Gimmel 2009 [red label]” ( MNHN), card mounted on left side.

Litolibrus obesus Sharp : 31 syntypes seen in BMNH, card-mounted specimen with “Type” written on card by David Sharp selected as lectotype in order to stabilize the species name, “ Litolibrus \ obesus \ Type \ D.S. \ V. de Chiriqui [handwritten on card] // Type [red-bordered disc] // V. de Chiriqui, 4,000 –6,000 ft. Champion // Sharp Coll. \ 1905.–313. // LECTOTYPE \ Litolibrus \ obesus Sharp \ des. M.L. Gimmel 2011 [red label]” ( BMNH). Paralectotypes (30, BMNH), including additional specimens from the Panama locality, plus specimens from multiple localities in Guatemala, each with label affixed “ PARALECTOTYPE \ Litolibrus \ obesus Sharp \ det. M.L. Gimmel 2011 [yellow label]”.

Sphaeropsis simoni Guillebeau : holotype, female, “Caracas [handwritten] // Simon [handwritten] // [handwritten, illegible] // HOLOTYPE ♀ \ Sphaeropsis \ simoni Guillebeau \ det. M. Gimmel 2009 [red label]” ( MNHN), point mounted.

Diagnosis. Members of this genus are readily recognized as such by the narrowly separated mesocoxae, the oblique articulation of metatarsomeres I and II, which are laterally compressed, the prosternal process extending posterior of the procoxae with an arcuate tip devoid of stiff setae, the strong spectral iridescence on the elytra, and the strongly asymmetrical club.

Description. Small to very large, 1.9–4.8 mm long, often highly globose. Color uniformly pale testaceous or rufous, head and pronotum often lighter in color, elytra and pronotum sometimes piceous with striking yellowish or reddish maculations; never uniformly piceous, always with at least apex of elytra pale ( Fig. 41f ). Tibial spur formula 2-2-2, tarsal formula 5-5- 5 in both sexes.

Head. Not constricted behind eyes. Eyes large; facets flat; interfacetal setae absent; deeply emarginate medially; without posterior emargination; periocular groove present; with transverse setose groove ventrally behind eye. Frontoclypeus emarginate above antennal insertion; clypeal apex arcuate-truncate. Antennal club 3- segmented, club strongly asymmetrical, antennomere XI triangular, sometimes constricted on anterior edge ( Fig. 29b ). Mandible ( Fig. 29a ) with apex simple; without retinaculum; mandible with ventral ridge. Maxillary palpomere IV fusiform, elongate, nearly symmetrical; galea (sometimes greatly) elongate, pointed apically; lacinia with two stout spines. Mentum with sides divergent toward apex; labial palpomere III fusiform. Labrum with apical margin arcuate. Gular sutures short, barely evident.

Thorax. Pronotum without obvious microsetae; with weakly developed scutellar lobe. Prosternum anteriorly with continuous row of marginal setae, setae flattened at base; procoxal cavity with anterolateral notchlike extension; prosternal process angulate in lateral view, usually conspicuously setose preapically, sometimes with ventrally-pointed spinelike setae at apex. Protrochanter without setae; protibia with or without ctenidium on kickface, from two spines ( Fig. 29c ) to row of about 12 spines; protarsomere II usually expanded in male. Scutellar shield small. Elytron with spectral iridescence; with one sutural stria; disc of elytra sometimes with weak rows of punctures; without transverse strigae; with subbasal band of coarse comblike ridges extending across base of scutellar shield; lateral margin with row of tiny, sawtooth-like setae. Mesoventral plate ( Fig. 29f ) notched anteriorly, not extending posteriorly to metaventrite, forming procoxal rests, mesoventral disc sunken medially, without setae; mesanepisternum with complete transverse carina; mesocoxal cavities narrowly separate, separated by much less than half width of a coxal cavity. Mesotarsomere III bilobed. Metaventral process ( Fig. 29f ) only extending to about halfway point of mesocoxae; metaventral postcoxal lines not separated from mesocoxal cavity margin; discrimen long, extending about halfway to anterior margin of metaventral process; metendosternite ( Fig. 29g ) with anterior tendons moderately separated, ventral process intersecting ventral longitudinal flange at anterior margin. Anterior margin of metacoxa with emargination sublaterally; metacoxal plate with transverse line; metatibial foreface with apical ctenidium roughly perpendicular overall to long axis of tibia; male metatibia sometimes with oblique row of coarse setae on backface; spurs cylindrical, longest spur subequal to or longer than width of tibial apex; metatarsomere I shorter than metatarsomere II, joint between I and II rigid ( Fig. 29d ); metatarsomere III bilobed. Hind wing ( Fig. 29e ) with distinct, ovate anal lobe; leading edge without row of long setae at level of RA +ScP; AA 3+4 present, not connected to Cu by crossvein; cubitoanal system unbranched apically; CuA 2 and MP 3+4 with distal remnants; r4 developed, connected with RA 3+4; conspicuous flecks present in apical field just distal to rp-mp2, with much fainter fleck more distally; long transverse proximal sclerite and additional small triangular sclerite present just distal to end of radial bar.

Abdomen. Abdominal ventrite I without paired lines, without calli; spiracles present and apparently functional on segment VII. Male with aedeagus upright in repose; tegmen with symmetrical anterior margin and parameres hinged to basal piece, parameres without medial longitudinal division, often with secondary projections; penis with pairs of endophallic sclerites and spicules, apex notched; spiculum gastrale Y-shaped, with arms free. Female ovipositor weakly sclerotized, palpiform.

Immature stages. Unknown.

Bionomics. Most specimens with method-of-capture data were collected with flight intercept traps, Malaise traps, beating, and blacklight traps. A series from Peru was collected from “smooth Hypoxylon ” (Ascomycota: Xylariaceae ).

Distribution and diversity. Restricted to the New World, this genus ranges from the southeastern United States (Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas) and Sinaloa, Mexico, south through the Neotropics to at least Misiones Province, Argentina. It is also present disjunctly in southern Florida, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, but apparently absent from the Lesser Antilles.

Included species (25):

Apallodes angularis (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes argus (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes bipupillatus (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes championi Gimmel , nom. nov. [for Litolibrus ocellatus Champion, 1925 , junior secondary homonym of Apallodes ocellatus Reitter, 1874 ] (Distribution: Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes cinctus (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Panama) (type!)

Apallodes erythropterus (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes fulgens (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Guatemala) (type!)

Apallodes gibbus (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes minor (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Guatemala) (type!)

Apallodes obesus (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Guatemala, Panama) (type!)

Apallodes obliqueguttatus (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes obliteratus (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes ocellatus Reitter, 1874 ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes octoguttatus (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes palpalis Reitter, 1873 ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes pantherinus (Champion, 1925) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Brazil) (type!)

Apallodes posticatus (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Guatemala, Panama) (type!)

Apallodes princeps (Schwarz, 1878) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Cuba, USA) (type!)

Apallodes quadratus (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Guatemala) (type!)

Apallodes rufipennis (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Panama) (type!)

Apallodes sericeus (Kirsch, 1873) , comb. nov. ( Phalacrus ) ( Distribution : Peru) (type!)

Apallodes signatus (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Panama) (type!)

Apallodes simoni (Guillebeau, 1893) , comb. nov. ( Sphaeropsis ) ( Distribution : Venezuela) (type!)

Apallodes uniformis (Casey, 1890) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : USA) (type!)

Apallodes varians (Sharp, 1889) , comb. nov. ( Litolibrus ) ( Distribution : Guatemala, Panama) (type!)

Discussion. Reitter (1873: 132) mentioned two localities (“ Parahyba ” and “Columbia”) in his original description of Apallodes palpalis , implying that there are at least two syntype specimens. Only one specimen from either of these localities (Parahyba) was located in MNHN, and this is designated the lectotype to stabilize future application of this name.

Sharp (1889) apparently knew nothing of Reitter’s Apallodes (probably because the latter was originally described in Nitidulidae ) when erecting the genus Litolibrus . The two genera are clearly synonyms, and this results in 20 new combinations and one new name (see list above). Guillebeau’s Sphaeropsis (= Gyromorphus Guillebeau , see below) is also clearly within the limits of the genus Apallodes as defined above, and I propose that they become new generic synonyms. This results in one new combination.

Guillebeau (1894 a: 283) designated as the genotype of his new genus Gyromorphus one “ Ochrolitus Simoni Guillebeau (Ann. Soc. ent. Fr.)” indicating it had already been described. This is apparently a two-part error—he actually had previously described the species under Sphaeropsis with the comment “Ce genre est bien voisin du genre Ochrolitus Sharp [This genus is quite close to the genus Ochrolitus Sharp ]”, while the name Gyromorphus is an error for Sphaeropsis Guillebeau , and must have been a remnant of an alternate draft of his work. I consider Sphaeropsis and Gyromorphus to be objective synonyms.

The type (deposited in MTD) of Phalacrus sericeus Kirsch, 1873 , clearly belongs in this genus .

At 4.8 mm, this genus includes the largest phalacrids in the New World. Some strongly resemble nitidulids of the genus Pallodes on superficial examination. Other species are strikingly patterned with ocellate spots, transverse maculations, or cordate markings and are arguably the most visually appealing members of the family.

Figures

FIGURE 29. Apallodes sp., male. (a) Left mandible, dorsal; (b) left antenna (scale bar = 1.0 mm). (c) Left protibia and tarsus, dorsal; (d) left metatibia and tarsus, ventral (scale bar = 1.0 mm). (e) Hind wing (scale bar = 1.0 mm). (f) Meso- and metaventrite, ventral (scale bar = 1.0 mm). (g) Metendosternite (scale bar = 1.0 mm).

FIGURE 41. Photographs. Olibrus sp.: (a) dorsal. Antennogasmus cordatus, holotype: (b) dorsal. Malagasmus thalesi, holotype: (c) dorsal; (d) ventral. Olibrosoma testacea: (e) dorsal. Apallodes sp.: (f) dorsal. Augasmus humilis: (g) dorsal; (h) ventral. Entomocnemus sp., southeast Asia: (i) dorsal.