A new genus of Phengodidae (Coleoptera) from the Neotropical Region

Cleicosta, a new genus of Phengodidae containing two new species, C. equatoreana sp. nov., and C. monaguense sp. nov., are described. Additionally, a new combination for Cenophengus breviplumatus Wittmer, 1976 is included. Cleicosta gen.  nov., is the thirty-eighth genus assigned to the beetle family Phengodidae in the new world and is also the most morphologically similar to Cenophengus LeConte, 1881. Both genera exhibit clearly separated tentorial pits, vertical frons and simple tarsomeres. In Cleicosta gen. nov., however, the antennal rami are 1.5 times longer than the corresponding antennomere, the pronotum is subquadrate and the elytra are short, reaching the first or second abdominal segment. In addition, it presents an aedeagus with lateral lobes slender, parallel exteriorly, narrowed medially to toothless apex. Key-Words. Diversity; Taxonomy; Cleicosta; Elateroidea.


INTRODUCTION
The coleopteran family Phengodidae LeConte, 1861 comprises 37 genera and 282 species in Americas. It has traditionally been classified into three subfamilies: Phengodinae LeConte, 1861;Mastinocerinae LeConte, 1881;and Penicillophorinae Paulus, 1975 (Constantin, 2014;Zaragoza-Caballero & Pérez-Hernández, 2014;Roza et al., 2017Vega-Badillo & Zaragoza-Caballero, 2019;. These subfamilies are present in the New World, from southern Canada to the north of Chile and Argentina (Costa & Zaragoza-Caballero, 2010). Recently, Kundrata et al. (2019) by phylogenetic analysis, considered Cydistinae Paulus, 1972, to be part of the Phengodidae. Cydistinae consists of two genera distributed in Asia Minor: Cydistus Bourgeois, 1885 which includes six species, and Microcydistus Kundrata et al., 2019 with one species. The collection records for this family are limited to local sites, and their low vagility suggests that its species present high levels of endemism (Roza et al., 2017). Thus, several characteristics of the phengodid species could be related to their geographical boundaries (Viviani & Bechara, 1997). The aim of this study is to increase our knowledge of the family Phengodidae by describing a new genus based on two new species and transferring one previously described species into this genus.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
We examined specimens deposited at MTEC (Montana Entomology Collection "From Ivie Michael Ivie Collection", Bozeman Montana, U.S.A.), plus the holotype of Cenophengus breviplumatus Wittmer, 1976, deposited at NMNH (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., U.S.A.) (Floyd Schockley, curator). All specimens are pinned. By means of a Zeiss Discovery V8 stereoscopic microscope equipped with a 1× lens and a 1.6× eyepiece, the following measurements were taken: body length, interantennal and interocular distance, length and width of head, pronotum, elytra, scape, antennomeres, antennal rami, maxillary and labial palps, and tarsomeres. Holotype measurements are expressed in millimeters. The aedeagus was extracted from six specimens, and a wing was detached from three; these were glued onto cardboard triangles and pinned under corresponding specimens. Photographs were taken with a Zeiss Axio Zoom V16 microscope equipped with a Plan NeoFluar Z 1×10.25 FWD 56 lens. Lastly, the aedeagi of the new species were examined by means of the Hitachi SU1015 SEM microscope at the Laboratorio de Microscopía y Fotografía de la Biodiversidad, Instituto de Biología, UNAM. General terminology follows Lawrence et al. (2011), except for membranous wing veins, that ISSN On-Line: 1807-0205 ISSN Printed: 0031-1049 ISNI: 0000-0004-0384-1825 was taken from Kukalová-Peck & Lawrence (1993). Labels of the type specimens are arranged in sequence from top to bottom, where the data for each label are within double quotes (" "), a slash (/) separates the rows, and information between brackets ([ ]) provide the correct information for label mistakes.

RESULTS
A key, only for the mastinocerine genera exhibiting distinctly separated tentorial pits, is provided, adapted from Zaragoza-Caballero & Pérez-Hernández (2014) with modifications in couplet 2' . Diagnosis: Cleicosta gen. nov., is morphologically similar to Cenophengus LeConte, 1881: both genera exhibit clearly separated tentorial pits, vertical frons and simple tarsomeres. Cleicosta gen. nov., differs from Cenophengus in the arrangement of the gular sutures: parallel anteriorly in the new genus and divergent anteriorly in Cenophengus. Additionally, in Cleicosta gen. nov., pronotum is subquadrate in shape and elytra are short (reaching only first or second abdominal segment). In Cenophengus the pronotum is rectangular, and elytra long, last 3 tergites exposed. Other important characteristics in Cleicosta gen. nov., are: aedeagus with lateral lobes parallel, elongate, narrowed medially to toothless apex; in Cenophengus with lateral lobes parallel, with apical teeth.
guense sp. nov., it is three times greater. Additionally, in C. breviplumata comb. nov., the first and second tarsomeres are equal in length in all three pairs of legs, whereas in C. monaguense sp. nov., the first tarsomere is shorter than the second in all legs.

Females and immatures: Unknown.
Distribution: Bogota, Colombia (Fig. 3). Diagnosis: Cleicosta monaguense sp. nov., can be separated from the similar C. breviplumata comb. nov., by its greater interantennal distance which equals twice the antennal fossa width (interantennal distance equals antennal fossa width in C. breviplumata comb. nov.). The interocular distance is three times greater than eye width in C. monaguense sp. nov., and in C. breviplumata comb. nov., it is four times greater. Additionally, in C. monaguense sp. nov., the first tarsomere is shorter than the second in all legs, whereas in C. breviplumata comb. nov., the first and second tarsomeres are equal in length in all three pairs of legs.
Description: Male: Body length 3.50, maximum body width 0.46. Light brown body.
Etymology: Specific epithet alludes to the type locality. Diagnosis: Cleicosta equatoreana sp. nov., is similar to C. monaguense sp. nov., however they differ in their interantennal distance. In C. equatoriana sp. nov., it is equal to antennal fossa width; in C. monaguense sp. nov., interantennal distance is greater than fossa width. Additionally, in C. equatoreana sp. nov., the terminal maxillary palpomere is 1.5 times longer than the preceding three combined, whereas in C. monaguense sp. nov., the terminal palpomere is equal in length as the preceding three combined.
Description: Male: Body length 2.4, maximum width 0.38. Body color light brown.
Etymology: Specific epithet alludes to the type locality.
Key to species of Cleicosta gen. nov.