PREFACE 



The large number of interesting and important species of insects to be 

 found in Latin America, and the number of entomologists who have studied 

 them, make it a matter of surprise that almost no general compilations have 

 been produced that might aid the local students in making identifications 

 of their specimens or in planning campaigns for the control of pests. Be- 

 lieving that a list of the known species is a basic rec[uirement for the iden- 

 tification of the insects and therefore for all branches of entomology, the 

 Smithsonian Institution and the United States National Museum have 

 undertaken the publication of this checklist for the purposes of aiding the 

 entomologists in this region to identify local insects and of encouraging 

 the publication of new data concerning these insects. 



The number of species of beetles recorded from America south of the 

 United States is estimated to be near 50,000. In order to keep a list of 

 this large number within reasonable size, it has been necessary to make 

 considerable compromises with what might be considered to be an ideal 

 checklist. With the arrangement selected, the following data are made 

 available: A systematic arrangement of families and genera; an alpha- 

 betical list of the species in each genus, with synonyms and varieties of 

 each; a citation to the original publication of each name; and an indica- 

 tion of the known geographical distribution by countries. In addition 

 to these a preliminary bibliography of p11 papers on the taxonomy of the 

 beetles of Latin America will be included in the final section of this work. 



In most details this checklist conforms with similar lists in other parts 

 of the world. Family names end in -idae, subfamily names in -inae, 

 tribes in -ini, and subtribes in various ways. All synonyms are in italics, 

 and subgenera are treated in the same manner as synonyms. All names 

 for categories lower than species (such as subspecies, variety, form, phase, 

 or aberration) are listed under the specific name but preceded by a letter 

 to indicate the rank assigned to them (s, v, f, p, or a, respectively). Cita- 

 tions to original publications follow the abbreviated author's name, thus: 

 Cupes latrcillei Sol. 49-4G0. The 49 indicates the year of publication 

 (1849), and the 466 indicates the page. By referring to the bibliography 

 one will find under Sober one or more papers published in 1849. The page 

 will generally indicate which is the one concerned. Where the author's 

 name and the reference are enclosed in parentheses this signifies that the 

 origijial author and reference are unknown to the compiler, the name 

 being referred to bv the author cited. 



