Anaspidini, Mulsant, 1856

Johnston, M. Andrew, Naczi, Robert F. C. & Gimmel, Matthew L., 2024, Review of North American Scraptiidae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea), with a Catalog of World Genera, The Coleopterists Bulletin 78 (2), pp. 171-200 : 177

Tribe Anaspidini

Anaspidini Mulsant, 1856 are diagnosed among Anaspidinae by their penultimate (fourth) pro- and mesotarsomeres being reduced in size and nearly concealed between the bilobed antepenultimate (third) tarsomeres. The type and most diverse genus of this tribe is Anaspis , which occurs virtually worldwide. Most of the earlier works on North American Anaspidinae described all species in this genus prior to being moved into genera currently placed in Pentariini . Typical members of Anaspis ( Fig. 3 ) have males bearing articulated appendages on the third and (sometimes) fourth abdominal ventrites ( Fig. 3C ). Silaria Mulsant, 1856 was erected for several species that did not possess these male abdominal appendages. Lacordaire (1859: 613) considered these two genera to be synonymous. Emery (1876: 13) treated Anaspis broadly and considered Silaria to be one of five subgenera he recognized. Liljeblad (1945) described three Nearctic species whose males did not have abdominal appendages and placed one each in Larisia Emery, 1876 , Silaria , and Nassipa Emery, 1876 , which he treated as genera instead of subgenera. The generic recognition of these taxa has been repeated in a few checklists (e.g., Arnett 1983) but most workers worldwide have continued to recognize them as subgenera of Anaspis (e.g., Csiki 1915; Franciscolo 1972; Leblanc et al. 2008; Pollock 2002). We treat them as subgenera.

The generic key presented in Liljeblad (1945) (herein considered subgenera) is consistent with the worldwide treatment by Ermisch (1950a) and reliably distinguishes members of our fauna. However, the sole North American member of Nassipa , Anaspis (Nassipa) hoppingi ( Liljeblad, 1945) , may be misplaced to subgenus. A comparison with European members of this subgenus revealed distinct differences in the form of antennomeres 5–10, which are distinctly moniliform in the latter, being short, stout, and widest in the middle, whereas those of A. (N.) hoppingi are proportionally longer and widest towards the apex. In North America, only members of the nominate subgenus of Anaspis have male abdominal appendages. This character does not hold for the European fauna where at least several members of the subgenus Nassipa bear abdominal appendages. The subgenera of the world need reevaluation before the North American species can be confidently placed to subgenus.

The monotypic Sphingocephalus Liljeblad, 1945 ( Fig. 4 ) was erected for a small species described from southern Florida and was compared to the North American genus Naucles Champion, 1891 , which also contains a number of very small species. The genus was included in Pentariini by Franciscolo (1972), who may have assumed that the tarsi were similar to those of Naucles , since Liljeblad (1945) did not mention this feature in his description or differentiation from Naucles . However, the tarsal structure of Sphinogcephalus clearly indicates placement within Anaspidini . Sphingocephalus can be recognized by the lunulate apical labial palpomeres ( Fig. 4C ), in contrast with those of Anaspis , which have slightly widened and deeply incised apical labial palpomeres ( Fig. 3A ). Sphingocephalus lacks male abdominal appendages and can be further recognized by its unique notosternal sutures which contact the anterior prothoracic foramen subdorsally ( Fig. 4B ). In all other known North American scraptiids, including Anaspis ( Fig. 3B ) and Naucles ( Fig. 4E ), the notosternal sutures contact the anterior prothoracic foramen ventrolaterally.

Figures

Fig. 3. Anaspis, morphological characters. A) A. atrata, labial palps, ventral view, B) A. atrata, prothorax with pink line denoting external path of notosternal suture, C) A. atrata, male abdomen, ventral view, pink overlay highlighting the left appendage coming off of the posterior aspect of sternite V (ventrite 3), D) A. rufa, male terminalia, dorsal view, E) A. rufa, male segment VIII and spiculum gastrale, F) A. rufa, protibia showing lobed third tarsomere which is concealing a reduced fourth tarsomere, G) A. atrata, apex of male terminalia. III–VIII = abdominal segments; al = accessory lobe; bp = basal piece of tegmen; fp = fused parameres; p = penis; sap = spicular apodeme (proximal portion of spiculum gastrale); sp = spicular plates (distal portion of spiculum gastrale).

Fig. 4. Sphingocephalus and Naucles, diagnostic characters. A) S. ovalis, lateral habitus, scale bar = 1 mm, B) S. ovalis, holotype, pronotum, anterior aspect, overlay shows notosternal suture, C) S. ovalis, head, anterior aspect, arrow points to lunulate apical labial palpomere, D) Naucles sp., antenna, E) Naucles sp., pronotum, anterior aspect, pink overlay shows notosternal suture.