University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Insecta Mundi Florida March 1995 Additions to the checkered beetle fauna of Belize with the description of a new species (Coleoptera: Cleridae) and a nomenclatural change Jacques Rifkind North Hollywood, CA Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi Part of the Entomology Commons Rifkind, Jacques, "Additions to the checkered beetle fauna of Belize with the description of a new species (Coleoptera: Cleridae) and a nomenclatural change" (1995). Insecta Mundi. 161. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/161 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Florida at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Insecta Mundi by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 9, No. 1-2, March - June, 1995 17 Additions to the checkered beetle fauna of Belize with the description of a new species (Coleoptera: Cleridae) and a nomenclatural change Jacques Rifkind 11322 Camarillo St. #304 North Hollywood, CA 91602 USA Abstract: New information on the distribution and ecology of Cleridae in Belize, Central America is presented. Enoclerus (E.) gumae, new species, is described from Cayo District, Belize and Cymatodera pallidipennis Chevrolat 1843 is placed as a junior synonym of C. prolixa (Klug 1842). Introduction Until the early part of this century, the only The clerid fauna of Belize (formerly British Hon- means of transportation from Belize City, on the duras) is very poorly known. In the most recent coast, to Cayo (now San Ignacio), near the western checklist for Central America, Barr (1975) specifi- border with Guatemala, was by a small, manually cally mentions only Cymatodera pallidipennis propelled, hand-carved boat -the "pitpan"- up Chevrolat 1843 and Enoclerus x-album (Gorham the Belize River (Stephens 1841; Horwich & Lyon 1882) as occurring in Belize, while recording 86 1990[?]). Rapids complicated the journey, which species from neighboring Guatemala. In addition could take from "8-21 days, traveling both day and to the species listed by Barr, Gorham (1883), in the night." (Horwich & Lyon 1990[?], p.47). We know Biologia Centrali-Americana, records Cregya that F. Blancaneaux, the French chicle and ma- quadrisignata (Spinola 1844) (as Pelonium hogany contractor and amateur naturalist who quadrisignatum Spinola 1844) and the two cosmo- collected all the Belizean clerids examined by politan korynetines, Necrobia ruficollis (Fabr. Gorham, did visit Cayo; his several collecting records 1775) and N. rufipes (deGeer 1775), from Belize. of Scarabaeidae from there are listed in the Biologia Finally, Ekis (1977) published several Belizean volume devoted to that family (Bates 1888,1889). records of Perilypus distinctus (Chevrolat 1874). All of Blancaneaux's clerid records, however, are Thus, a total of only six species of clerids is previ- limited to the lowland region of the Rio Sarstoon, ously recorded from Belize, a country encompass- Toledo District, which forms the southernmost ing a diverse range of habitats and whose neigh- border of Belize with Guatemala. bors, Mexico and Guatemala, are home to hun- Although there have been several substantial dreds of clerid species. botanical and herpetological investigations in Belize The reason for our poor knowledge of Belize's (1923 Marshall Field Expedition to Central Cleridae relates to the lack of attention paid that America;l936 Michigan-Carnegie Botanical Expe- country by 19th and 20th century beetle collectors. dition to British Honduras; Cambridge Expedition This is probably the result of the difficulty of inte- to British Honduras, 1959-60; Henderson and rior travel in Belize. Selander and Vaurie (1962) Hoevers 1975 ), and workers in other disciplines found only eight collecting localities in Belize listed such as mammology Wrkpatrick and Cartwright in the whole Insecta portion of the Biologia. Com- 1975 and references therein) and ornithology pare this with Guatemala from which they totaled (Russell 1964) have focused their efforts there, 128 separate collecting locations, and we can see recent research on the coleopteran fauna has some of the reason for the dearth of Belizean clerids apparently been limited to a few species descrip- reported in scientific literature. tions (e.g. Chemsak 1983; Johnson 1984). I hope that this paper, which presents the results of a 18 Volume 9, nos. 1-2, March-June, 1995, INSECTA MUNDI brief, geographically limited collecting trip, will Classification and sequence of taxa accord with inspire others to focus their attention on this beau- Barr (1975). tiful, relatively unspoiled country which no doubt possesses many unknown sources of entomological CLERINAE, Tillini: interest. In the following discussion of clerid distribu- Cymatodera prolixa (Klug 1842) tion, the reader will not fail to notice that repeated references to the confused and uncertain status of Tillus prolixus Klug 1842:272. many taxa become a rather annoying leitmotif. Cymatodera prolixa (Klug): Chevrolat 1876:ll; Schenkling This uncertainty is primarily the result of the 1903:21,1906:251;Wolcott 1927:17;Corporaal1950:51. unavailability of sufficient material for study. Fur- Cymatoderapallidipennis Chevrolat 1843:8;Gorham 1882:132; ther intensive collecting in Belize and neighboring Corporaa11950:51. New synonym. areas is clearly needed in order to solve these taxonomic puzzles. Comparison of these species' types by Barr Belize contains diverse habitats, ranging from (pers. comm.) shows them to be conspecific. I have mangrove swamp to cohune palm forest and "rain studied a transparency of Chevrolat's pale colored forest." Most of the beetles discussed in this paper type specimen of C. pallidipennis and conclude that were taken in three types of plant community: it is well within the observed variability of the limestone associated closed canopy broadleaved broadly distributed C. prolixa. hardwood forest (known as "High Ridge" in Belize); This species was previously recorded in Belize broken canopy mixed broadleaved forest ("Broken (as C. pallidipennis) from the Rio Sarstoon, Toledo Ridge"); and the upland pine-oak-pimenta palm District. The following represents a new district forest which grows in granitic soils and is locally record. One specimen, Belize, Belize District, 5.1 referred to as "Mountain Pine Ridge." The mi N Hattieville, 200m, June 21, 1992, swamp broadleaved forests probably correspond to the forest, beating dead vines. This species is known "lower montane rain forest" and "evergreen sea- also from Mexico (Estado de Veracruz), Costa Rica, sonal forest" of Beard (1944). It should be noted and northern South America. that the distribution of these forest types in Belize can be dependent as much on edaphic conditions as on elevation (Brokaw & Lloyd-Evans 1987). Phyto- CLERINAE, Clerini: geographic terminology employed here is taken from Bartlett (1936), Lunde11(1940), Beard (1944), Priocera clavipes Gorham 1882 and ~richer'(1989). Nevertheless, even a brief examination of the literature will show that there New country record. One specimen, Belize, Cayo is no consensus on the use of terms; I believe that District, off of Chiquibul Rd., 8 mi S Georgeville, each of these authors' attempts to redescribe what 420 m, broadleaved hardwood forest, June 21-24, he has observed reflects the subtle complexity of 1992, beating tree branch. Known previously from these forests and the general refusal of tropical Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. nature to "sit still" enough for us to characterize any part of it with a simple label. The purpose of this paper is to describe a newly Priocera stictica Gorham 1882 discovered clerid species, to propose a nomencla- tural change, and to present new information on the distribution of clerids in Belize. New country record. One specimen, Belize, Cayo Abbreviations are as follows: California Acad- District, San Ignacio, San Ignacio Hotel, 290 m, emy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, (CASC); Field June 26, 1992, riparian hardwood forest, MV and Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, (FMNH); fluorescent lights. This species is broadly distrib- The Natural History Museum, London, England, uted from Mexico to Panama and apparently exhib- (BMNH); and Jacques Rifkind collection, North its much variation throughout its range. I have Hollywood, CA, (JNRC). Unless otherwise noted, examined the type which is substantially larger all specimens listed below as representing new than the Belizean example, and tentatively con- records were collected by J. Rifkind and P. A. Gum clude, based on similarity of sculpturing and elytral and are housed in JNRC. pattern, that they are conspecific. INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 9, No. 1-2, March - June, 1995 19 Perilypus distinctus (Chevrolat 1874) (Gorham 1882). In these Belizean specimens the posterior pronotal slope abruptly and deeply falls Ekis (1977) examined several specimens of this away from a relatively convexpronotal disk, and the species from Corozal and Belize Districts and "M- pronotal sides are arcuately constricted to a well set tee Dist" (his quotation marks). The latter is most off, rather broad, basal pronotal collar. In addition, certainly an abbreviation for "Manatee District" the elytra are strongly longitudinally carinate. The which refers either to the area around the coastal pronotalcharacters