Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 123 1967 Number 3601 



Neotropical Species of Genus Triplax Herbst 



And Review of Genus Haematochiton Gorham 



(Coleoptera: Erotylidae) 1 



By David H. Johnson 2 



Neotropical Species of Genus Triplax Herbst 



Although largely Holarctic in distribution, the genus Triplax 

 Herbst ranges into tropical regions to some extent, especially the New 

 World tropics. Some species having been erroneously referred to the 

 genus and most species being inadequately described and poorly 

 known, this paper is an attempt to clarify the confusion surrounding 

 the Neotropical forms. 



The first Neotropical species, Triplax cruentipennis, was described 

 by Lacordaire in his monograph of 1842. In 1864 Philippi described 

 T. valdiviana. Gorham's work in the "Biologia Centrali-Americana" 

 in 1888 added four new species, T. championi, T. hogei, T. mesomelas, 

 and T. rediviva. Guerin (1952) described T. bicolor and T. azurei- 

 pennis. In 1957, Delkeskamp described T. maderi from Brazil, and 

 Boyle (1954, 1956, 1962) has described four species from Arizona 

 whose ranges are either known or thought to extend into Mexico. 



1 Modified from a master's thesis submitted to Pennsylvania State University, 

 1966. 



2 Department of Entomology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. 



1 



