A List of the West Indian Dryopidæ (Coleoptera), With A New Genus and Eight New Species, Including One From Colombia

Psyche: A Journal of Entomology, Jul 2018

P. J. Darlington

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A List of the West Indian Dryopidæ (Coleoptera), With A New Genus and Eight New Species, Including One From Colombia

International Journal of A LIST OF THE WEST INDIAN DRYOPID_ZE (COLEOP- TERA), WITH. A NEW GENUS AND EIGHT NEW SPECIES, INCLUDING ONE FROM COLOMBIA BY P. J. DARLINGTON, JR.. Museum of Comparative ZoSlogy, Cambridge, Mass. BY P. J. DARLINGTON 0 0 Museum of Comparative ZoSlogy , Cambridge, Mass - Since 1927, when I published a paper on the West Indian "Helmidm" or Helminm (Psyche 34, pp. 91-97)., a considerable amount of additional dryopid material has come to hand. Most of it has been collected by myself during a trip to Cuba, Jamaica., and Haiti which I was enabled to make from August to November, 1934, through grants from the Milton Fund and Atkins Foundation of Harvard University. This paper is to report upon. this material and to bring our knowledge of the West Indian fauna, up-to-date by listing the species, sometimes with critical comments. It does not pretend, however, to be a complete revision. By the "West Indies" I do not mean to include Trinidad, which is South American both geographically and faunistically. Among the Dryopidm, the genera Dryops, Elsianus, and Heterelmis occur in Trinidad (collected by me in 1929) but are not, a,t least as yet, known from the. West Indies proper, and one of the Trinidad species, of Helmis (s. lat.) belongs to a group not yet known from the West Indies. In my 1927 paper I stressed the. relationship of the West Indian species with those, of Texas. Actually, of course, many of the species show close relationship with Central America as well as Texas, and there are some South American elements in the Lesser Antilles. The West Indian fauna and that of the adjacent mainland are still so imperfectly known that there is not much point in discussing affinities in more detail, except to. note that the West Indian fauna is certainly depauperate. The absence of Dryopidm in many rivers and brooks in the West Indies is a striking phenomenon, worth recording in detail. In Jamaica. I looked carefully for the family in several rivers and mountain brooks on the south slope, of the main range of the Blue Mountains, in the Hope River near Kingston, and in several small, clear, rapid rivers near Ocho Rios on the north coast, but did not find a single specimen, although Dryopidee are known from the island. I vis. ited also the Rio Cobre above Spanish,.own, which looked like good dryopid wa.ter but was too flooded for collecting. In Haiti I worked carefully in the river at Ennery and the brooks on Mt. Ba.sil (northern Ha.iti), in the Rivire Cul de Sac and the Rivire Froide (near Port-au-Prince), and in various mountain brooks in the high Massif de. la Selle (southeastern Haiti) up to over 6,000 ft. in the Rivire Blanche on the La Selle plateau, with equally little result. However, in the La. Hotte region (southwes.tern Haiti) I found Dryo.pidse in every river and brook examined, from the Ravine du Sud at Camp Perrin, under 1,000 ft., to a small brook at Desba.rrire, just north of Mr. La Hotte, at about 4,000 ft., the highest running water I saw in the. La Hotte region. Five genera and eight, species of stream loving Dryopide were found in this region. Possibly extensive clearing of forests, resulting in heavy freshets, has eliminated the insects in places by tearing up the .s,tream beds and destroying aqua.tic vegetation, while they survive where, as nea.r La Hotte, the. forest is mostly uncut or where conditions are. favorable f,or some. other reason. The proportions given in my descriptions have. been determined by actual measurements. The types of all new species are in the Museum of Comparative ZoSlogy. I am much indebted to Mr. K. G. Blair for notes on some types in the British Museum. Subfamily Psepheninm Psephe.nus Hald Although this genus is not known from the West Indies, an understa.nding of its. secondary sexual characters is impo.rtant in dealing with its West Indian relatives. In Psephenus lecontei Lec. the 3 differs from, the e as follows" average, size smaller; prothorax less explana,te at sides; pronotum less opaque; elytra slightly less distinctly substriate; antennae slightly longer, heavier, and more nearly serrate; maxillary palpi longer, heavier, with last joint more triangular; front and middle tarsi not dilated but with soles first 2 joints with numerous rather short, slender papillae; middle coxm much more approximate, mesosternum between them narrower and more acutely only at s.ides of 7th, in emargination o apex o 5th), not impressed; abdomen with 7 ventral segments (6th showing 6 as in Pheneps n. gen. Generally .similar to Psephenus, but more slender; head free; co.xm similar; last tarsal joint elongate., but not quite so much as in Psephenus epipleurm similar, nearly reachin apex of elytra; sexual dimorphism of palpi, mesosternum, and apical segments of abdomen similar. Differs from Psephenus in clypeus and labrum nearly in plane o.f front, not bent under head; in very ,long antennm reaching to near middle o elytra at least in with 1st joint long, s (...truncated)


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P. J. Darlington. A List of the West Indian Dryopidæ (Coleoptera), With A New Genus and Eight New Species, Including One From Colombia, Psyche: A Journal of Entomology, 43, DOI: 10.1155/1936/73105