A new cryptic species and review of the east-Andean leaf chafer genus Mesomerodon Ohaus, 1905 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Rutelinae)

By

Seidel, Matthias
Jameson, Mary
Stone, Rachel

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2017

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

671

Pages

61-85

Subjects

Amazonian lowland , dimorfismo sexual , escarabajos pelidnotinos , modelado de nicho , niche modeling , pelidnotine chafer , Selva baja amazónica , sexual dimorphism

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.671.11815

 

Abstract

The Neotropical scarab beetle genus Mesomerodon Ohaus (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Rutelini) is distributed in the western (lowland) Amazonian region from Colombia to Bolivia. Based on our research, the genus includes three species including a new cryptic species from Ecuador. We use niche modeling to predict potential suitable habitat and identify environmental factors associated with the distribution of Mesomerodon species. We characterize the genus, provide a key to species, diagnose each species, describe a new species, provide spatial and temporal distributions, and discuss distributions of the species in relation to Amazonian landscape biodiversity.