Ambloplisus Heinrich, 1930

Ambloplisus Heinrich, 1930: 551 .

Type species: Ambloplisus primus, 1930, by monotypy.

Thaumatoteles Hopper, 1938: 103 .

Type species: Hoplismenus ornatus Cresson, 1868, by original designation. Synonymised by Heinrich (1959: 216).

Comparative diagnosis

Ambloplisus closely resembles Tropicolabus Heinrich, 1959 due to size and the almost identical colour pattern (Figures 5, 40). However, the shallow gastrocoeli with thyridia smaller than the space between them and the lack of a clear separation between the area superomedia and area basalis allows the differentiation of Ambloplisus from Tropicolabus . For a better comparison between the two genera, see the treatment for Tropicolabus below. In some species of Platylabus, the propodeum bears tooth-like projections (Figures 22b, 22d), but these are never very elongate or pointed. Moreover, the presence of shallow gastrocoeli and thyridia smaller than the space between them in Ambloplisus allow an easy separation from Platylabus (Figures 5d, 22d) (Heinrich 1961, 1962b; Tereshkin 2009).

Range and diversity

The genus is confined to the New World, with only one species, Ambloplisus ornatus (Cresson 1868), occurring in the Nearctic (Yu et al. 2016).