Adelopsis Portevin

Peck, Stewart B., Gnaspini, Pedro & Newton, Alfred F., 2020, Updated catalog and generic keys of the Leiodidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) of the Neotropical region (“ Latin America ”: Mexico, the West Indies, and Central and South America), Zootaxa 4741 (1), pp. 1-114 : 41-42

Genus Adelopsis Portevin

Adelopsis Portevin, 1907: 71 ; Jeannel, 1936: 59 (redescription) ( sensu Gnaspini, 1996: 533 and Gnaspini & Peck, 1996: 407, redescription). Type species: Catops ruficollis Portevin , = senior synonym of Adelopsis heterocera Portevin (originally established as type species, by monotypy) ( Gnaspini & Peck (2019: 6 , 23).

= Iutururuca Gnaspini, 1993a: 79 (as subgenus of Adelopsis ); Gnaspini & Peck, 2019: 6 syn. Type species: Adelopsis leo Gnaspini (orig. des.). See Note 3.

= Excelsiorella Salgado, 2008b: 210 (as genus); Gnaspini et al., 2016: 274 syn. Type species: Excelsiorella latissima Salgado (orig. des.).

Note 1: Jeannel, 1922: 42 (and footnote 2) synonymizes “ Adelopsis Portevin [1907] ( type species: A. heterocera Port. )” under “ Ptomaphagus Illiger [1798] ” (and includes “ Ptomaphagus ruficollis ” Portevin [1903] ), which is followed by Hatch, 1928: 164, 168. However, Jeannel, 1936: 66 – 67 does not mention his synonymy and he seems to treat both species as if he considered them in Adelopsis in 1922.

Note 2: Revision started in Gnaspini (1996, who corrected spelling of some species names to feminine gender) and Gnaspini & Peck (1996, 2001), but not concluded.

Note 3: Only three species were initially assigned to the subgenus Iutururuca ; others were deferred to await holotype examination; however, since the genus was under revision and some grouping changes may be done, Gnaspini (1996) preferred not to place the species into subgenera. A formal synonymy was proposed in Gnaspini & Peck (2019: 6).

Note 4: Gnaspini & Peck (1996, 2001) proposed a system of species groups for this very speciose genus, afterwards redefined and increased by Salgado (2010c: 212) and Gnaspini & Peck (2019: 6).

Distribution: Neotropical. Note: Many (tens) undescribed species (e.g., Gnaspini & Peck, 1996: 406); one undetermined (?undescribed) species from Tobago Island (of Trinidad and Tobago) (Peck et al., 2002: 12); four undetermined species (based on females) “described” in Salgado, 2008b: 218 ( Ecuador), 2013a: 89 ( Peru), 2013b: 77 ( Ecuador), and 2016b: 60 ( Ecuador) (they might have been described afterwards, but Salgado has made no further reference to those materials).

Biology: Most species seem to be carrion scavengers in moist lowland or montane forests. Some occur as troglophiles in caves.