DIAPERINI NORTH OF MEXICO — TRIPLEHORN 351 



It remained for MuUer (1776, p. 74) to validate the generic name 

 Diaperis of GeofFroy by including under it boleti Linnaeus. The his- 

 tory of the group might perhaps be regarded as beginning at this point. 



Other species have had a similar history. Among the North Amer- 

 ican species, Neomida bicornis (Fabricius) was originally described 

 (1776) m the genus Hispa; Platydema ellipticum (Fabricius) was placed 

 originally in the genus Tenebrio and later transferred to Mycetophagus 

 (Fabricius, 1801). Platydema jiavipes (Fabricius, 1801) was also 

 placed in Mycetophagus. 



By 1831, the genus Diaperis had become quite sizable. It was in 

 that year that Laporte and Brulle produced their monumental taxo- 

 nomic treatise on the world Diaperini entitled "Monographic du Genre 

 Diaperis." In this key work, the authors divided the genus Diaperis 

 in its older sense into seven component genera, recognizing and de- 

 scribing as new, Platydema and Oplocephala {=Hoplocephala=Neo- 

 mida), both of which are represented in North America, and Ceropria 

 of the old world tropics, along with Diaperis in its present sense. 

 Three other genera which they originally included have been moved 

 to other widely separated tribes. 



Redtenbacher (1845, p. 128) was the first to assign a name to this 

 assemblage of genera recognized by Laporte and BruUe. His "Familie 

 Diaperides" contained five genera: Pentaphyllus, Phyletes (=Alphi- 

 tophagus), Platydema, Diaperis, and Oplocephala (=Neomida). 



The next important contribution was that of Mulsant (1854). 

 He divided the European Latigenes (=Tenebrionidae) into five 

 "Groupes" which more or less correspond to currently recognized 

 subfamilies. His third "Groupe" he caUed "Les Diaperides," and 

 this was divided into seven "Families," among which are a niunber 

 of units which we now recognize as tribes (e.g., Phaleriens, Ulomiens), 

 Mulsant's third "Famille" was called "Les Diaperiens" and is roughly 

 comparable to the tribe Diaperini in its present sense. On the basis 

 of the entire anterior margin of the eyes, he separated the "Penta- 

 phj'Uaires," containing only the genus Pentaphyllus from the remain- 

 der of the "Famille," which he called "Les Diaperaires." In this 

 "Deuxieme Branche" he recognized the following genera: Scaphidema, 

 Philethus (= Alphitophagus) , Diaperis, Platydema, and Oplocephala 

 {= Neomida). It is to the everlasting credit of Mulsant that his 

 concept of the group, proposed at this early date, still stands rela- 

 tively unchanged. His six genera (including Pentaphyllus) are identi- 

 cal, except for nomenclatorial changes, with the six listed by Portevin 

 in 1934 for France. 



Redtenbacher (1858) divided the Tenebrionidae, as currently 

 understood, into four families of which number 47 is the "Diape- 

 rides." In this family he placed 14 genera, including all of the genera 



