Iphiclus, Chevrolat 1836, 1837

Skelley, Paul E., 2009, Pleasing fungus beetles of the West Indies (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Erotylinae), Insecta Mundi 2009 (82), pp. 1-94 : 25

Genus IPHICLUS Chevrolat 1836

Iphiclus Chevrolat in Dejean 1836: 426. Type species: Erotylus flavovittatus Duponchel 1825 , subsequent

designation Alvarenga 1965: 85 [genus valid by indication] ~ Dejean 1837: 450; Alvarenga 1994: 58-

86. Brachysphaenus Lacordaire 1842: 32 , 296 ~ various authors. Brachysphoenus Lacordaire ~ various authors [misinterpretation of the ligature between a-e]. Brachysphenus Lacordaire [misspelling] ~ Agassiz 1846: 52; Erichson 1847: 178; Gorham 1888: 92.

Diagnosis. Members of Iphiclus are diverse in morphology and biology. The genus is characterized as a member of the Erotylini , but further defined by the following: body elongate to oval, not globose (i.e., not as in Aegithus ), eyes finely faceted, clypeus relatively short with sides not narrowing basally (wedgeshaped), mentum with plate triangular, terminal maxillary palpomere triangularly dilated, pronotal base weakly to distinctly lobed medially, elytra never greatly convex dorsally, and legs usually moderately long.

Description. Given the diversity and taxonomic disorganization of continental Iphiclus , any attempt at a lengthy and detailed description of the genus would be incomplete or filled with variable characters that would render the description useless for the current study. Thus, descriptive efforts were focused on the endemic West Indian subgenus. Lengthy published descriptions of Iphiclus can be found in Kuhnt (1909) and Lacordaire (1842), both present under the name Brachysphaenus .