Systematic, Natural History, and Zoogeographic Notes on the Genus Agra Fabricius, with a Description of a New Species from Panama (Coleoptera:Carabidae:Lebiini)
1978; The Coleopterists Society; Volume: 32; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5962/p.371778
ISSN1938-4394
Autores Tópico(s)Coleoptera Taxonomy and Distribution
ResumoA new species, Agra lavernae Erwin, from Cerro Campana, Panama is described and illustrated. Agra species are numerous in the Neotropical region yet very few specimens have been collected. Most papers previously published did not provide keys or syntheses. A trend curve shows that taxonomy on the group was done in plateaus. Past classification placed Agra and its sister group Agridia in the tribe Agrini, but here the two are regarded as Lebiini because of defense mechanism structure. Agra species are forest canopy specialists, but their food, oviposition habits, and behavior are unknown. Sexual dimorphisms in Agra species are numerous. The purposes of this paper are to set forth objectives of my long term Agra study, provide some information for collectors, encourage loan of material, and make known a new species from Panama in need of a name for another publication. The species described here was used as an example of specialized adaptive form (Erwin, in press b). Surely the most elegant and graceful group of neotropical carabid beetles yet discovered is that of Agra. These elongate, often metallic, long-necked beetles have gladdened the heart of many 'black lighters' on warm and humid tropical nights. Usually, however, only one or two specimens will arrive at the light during a good night, creating one of the major problems with Agra studies; that is, very little material has been accumulated over the past 200 years. Most species are represented by few specimens (although there are exceptions), there are hundreds of species, mostly undescribed, and most species seem to be quite local in distribution. I began gathering specimens for a revision in 1973, borrowing the holdings of most major museums in North America (and Sao Paulo, Brazil)-a mere 1650 specimens, but representing 312 species, ca. 30% of which are represented by a single specimen. This material is being gathered for three reasons: 1) to provide study material for a generic revision; 2) to provide a phylogenetic and geographic picture of the genus in order to test the neotropical forest refugium hypothesis set forth by Haffer (1969), Vanzolini (1970), and others; and 3) to determine the sister group of the genus in order to aid a reclassification of the truncatipennes (Erwin, in press a, in press b, MS). SYSTEMATICS
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