Cerabilia Laporte, 1867

Kipling, Will, 2020, Phylogeny and classification of the genus-group taxa of Loxandrina (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Abacetini), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2), pp. 151-182 : 151

Genus Cerabilia Laporte, 1867

= Nelidus Chaudoir, 1878; type species Nelidus australis Chaudoir, 1878: 50, by monotypy. Synonymy by Will (2015b)

= Zabronothus Broun, 1893; type species Zabronothus striatulus Broun, 1893: 1327, designation by Larochelle and Larivière (2001). Synonymy by Larochelle and Larivière (2007)

= Australomasoreus Baehr, 2007; type species Australomasoreus monteithi Baehr, 2007: 6, by original designation. Synonymy by Will (2015b)

Type species.

Cerabilia maori Laporte, 1867: 116, by monotypy. Republished description Laporte, 1868: 202. subgenus Feronista Moore, 1965; type species Feronista amaroides Moore, 1965: 26, by original designation. subgenus Biliacera Will, 2020; type species Cerabilia vitalis Will, 2020:79, by original designation.

Selected literature.

Revision, keys to species, generic descriptions, and synonymies for Australian and New Caledonian taxa ( Moore 1965; Will 2011, 2015b, 2020b). For New Zealand taxa see publications by Larochelle and Larivière (2001, 2007, 2016).

Described species and range.

Sixty-one species described from northeastern Australia (30 spp.), New Zealand (7 spp.), and New Caledonia (24 spp.).

Adult characteristics.

Very small to medium sized beetles (3.4-11 mm), slightly to significantly broader and more convex than typical for taxa in the subtribe. At one extreme of the body forms Cerabilia species are nearly as oval and convex as a typical Cosmodiscus and on the other extreme, they are elongate ovoid, approaching the typical Zeodera body form. Easily recognizable among loxandrines by combination of the very short metepisternum, completely reduced flight wing, heavily built legs with robust spines, and absence of the elytral plica. Among Zeodera , only Z. lata (Darlington) (Fig. 16 ), a flight-wing dimorphic species from New Guinea, is somewhat similar to the broad-body form typical of Cerabilia . However, Z. lata lacks several of the character states listed above that are found in Cerabilia .

Life history notes.

All species are found in rich leaf litter of wet forests and rainforests. They are difficult to find during the day, but are readily collected at night in forest leaf litter. It appears that they are in the upper soil layer during the day and emerge during the night. They are uncommonly found under rocks or woody debris in the forest.

Discussion.

The phylogeny presented here includes less than half of the described species of Cerabilia but it shows strong support for the monophyly of the genus in the combined analysis (PP 0.99), however, analyses of sequence data alone does not include a Cerabilia clade. The monophyly of the New Caledonian subgenus Biliacera is well supported in all analyses and very strongly (PP 1.0) in the combined data analysis. The exclusively Australian subgenus Feronista is supported as a clade in combined analysis, but with modest support (PP 0.63). In both combined and sequence data only analyses all species of Feronista are found to comprise a clade except for Cerabilia (F.) oodiformis , which is sister to the Biliacera clade but with modest support (PP 0.70). Cerabilia s. str. is only represented in the analyses by two species and while the pair always emerges as sister species, their position as sister to Feronista only has modest support (PP 0.64) in the combined analysis and in the sequence data only analysis they are sister to the Cerabilia (F.) oodiformis + Biliacera clade.

Figures

Figures 16 - 20. Habitus. 16. Zeodera lata (Darlington); 17. Z. (Homalonesiota) straneoi (Darlington); 18. Cerabilia (s. str.) striatula (Broun); 19. C. (Feronista) storeyi Will; 20. C. (Biliacera) klingonorum Will.