Genus Trachyelytron gen. nov.

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Type species

Chthoneis smaragdipennis Jacoby, 1888, by present designation.

Diagnosis

The single named species in this genus was formerly placed in Platymorpha, but the two genera have very little in common. Among other things, males of Trachyelytron gen. nov. lack a mesal spine or spinelike tuft of setae on the clypeus, as well as enlarged foretibiae that are characteristic of Platymorpha . The coarse elytral punctation (Fig. 107) is also characteristic of the new genus. See the following key for additional diagnostic characters.

Etymology

The name ‘ Trachyelytron ’ is Greek for ‘rough sheath’, and it refers to the coarsely punctate elytra.

Remarks

This genus is erected to accommodate a single described species, T. smaragdipennis (Jacoby, 1888) comb. nov., which occurs in Guatemala. Specimens we have seen from Nicaragua probably belong to the same species, although the elytra are metallic purple, rather than metallic green. See Fig. 107 for a habitus illustration.