Agrodes Nordmann 1837
Creators: name: Asiain, Julieta
name: Márquez, Juan
name: Morrone, Juan J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Agrodes

description: Agrodes Nordmann, 1837 stat. rev.
Agrodes Nordmann, 1837: 161 (type species: A. elegans Nordmann, 1837, by monotypy); Erichson, 1847: 88; Lacordaire, 1854: 66; Gemminger & Harold, 1868: 599 (synonym of Sterculia); Sharp, 1876: 192; Bernhauer & Schubert, 1914: 314 (subgenus of Sterculia); Blackwelder, 1952: 42 (subgenus of Plochionocerus); Newton, 1995: 51 (request to the ICZN to place Agrodes on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology); ICZN, 1996: 215 (Official List of Generic Names in Zoology).
Diagnosis. Body bright metallic; head conspicuously oblong (length/width: 1.54–2.00); lateral margins of the head contiguous dorsally and ventrally, lacking lateroventral furrows; ventral surface of the head with very dense, not expanded, umbilicate punctures (> 30 on each half of the head) distributed homogeneously; anterior margin of labrum with two pairs of small, lateral teeth and a pair of central, longer teeth (Fig. 37); mandibles almost as long as half of the head length; apical labial palpomere elongate; upper line of the pronotal hypomeron completely developed (A. conicicollis) or absent (A. elegans), slightly directed downwards in anterior third, but clearly distinct from lower line; pronotal hypomeron with fine, scarce setae in all area or in posterior 2/3; posterior margin of the elytra lacking notch; and internal margin of the tibiae with brush of dense and light setae covering the basal half or basal 2/3 of the tibiae.
Redescription. Total length 17.5–23.8 mm. Body metallic blue, green or violet.
Head. Elongate (length/width: 1.54–2.00), narrow posteriorly, dorsally with dense, umbilicate punctures (Fig. 3), ventral surface with very dense, not expanded, umbilicate punctures (> 30 in each half of head) distributed homogeneously (Fig. 67); lateral margins of head without lateroventral furrows (Fig. 10); antennae with basal antennomere longer than antennomeres 2+3 combined, second antennomere shorter than third, remaining antennomeres shorter than second, apical antennomere shorter than antennomeres 9+10 combined (Figs. 22, 23); anterior margin of labrum with two pairs of small, lateral teeth and a pair of bigger, central teeth (Fig. 37); mandibles acute, almost as long as half of head length, with two teeth on left mandible and one on right, with channel on external basal half (Figs. 38, 39); first maxillary palpomere shorter than remaining articles, second longest, third almost as long as apical palpomere and slightly widened toward apex, apical palpomere elongate-conical (Fig. 42); first labial palpomere shorter than palpomeres 2+3, second almost as long as apical or slightly longer and slightly widened toward apex, apical palpomere elongate (Fig. 42). Neck narrow, with anterior corners obtuse (Fig. 67).
Thorax. Pronotum smooth; with fine, dispersed setiferous punctures, central longitudinal area without punctures (Fig. 3); lateral margins of posterior half slightly sinuate; posterior part of pronotum with slightly visible, depressed area in each half; upper line of pronotal hypomeron completely developed, except in anterior third (A. conicicollis, Fig. 65) or absent (A. elegans, Fig. 66), slightly directed downwards in anterior third, but clearly distinct from lower line; pronotal hypomeron with fine, scarce setae on whole area or in posterior 2/3 (Figs. 65, 66). Scutellum with scarce punctures. Elytra almost as long as pronotum; with dense, setiferous punctures; posterior margin without notch (Figs. 3, 58). Prosternum slightly oblong (length/width ratio 1.04–1.20; Fig. 67), with fine, dispersed setae (Fig. 67). Mesoventrite short and wide, surface smooth and with scarce setiferous punctures on posterior margin. Metaventrite biggest, with its surface smooth and with few setiferous punctures.
Legs. Long and slender; femora with dispersed setae on the internal and external faces; internal face of tibiae with brush of dense white setae in the basal half or 2/3 (Fig. 61), with apical spines, of which the internal one is longest; first and second tarsomeres almost equal in length, longer than third and fourth, third longer than fourth, and fifth longest (almost as tarsomeres 2+3 combined).
Abdomen. Surface with smooth and setiferous punctures as dense or slightly less dense than those on elytra; fifth and sixth visible abdominal segments conspicuously narrow than previous segments; male genital sternite elongate, asymmetrical and acute toward apex, with setae in anterior part, wider than genital tergite. Aedeagus. Variable in shape (Figs. 75, 76).
Comparative comments. Agrodes was established by Nordmann (1837), who distinguished it from the species then placed in Plochionocerus. Some authors (Erichson 1839, Laporte 1840, Gemminger & Harold 1868, Blackwelder 1944), however, synonymized it with Sterculia, whereas others (Erichson 1847, Lacordaire 1854) considered it valid, treating Sterculia and Araeocnemus as synonyms of Agrodes or as its subgenera (Bernhauer & Schubert, 1914). Sharp (1876, 1885) was the first author to distinguish Agrodes from Sterculia (now Plochionocerus) and Renda (named by him as Plochionocerus) and provided characters (such as the elongate head and development of the prosternum) that have been important for our decision to consider Agrodes a distinct genus.
description: Published as part of Asiain, Julieta, Márquez, Juan & Morrone, Juan J., 2007, Phylogenetic systematics of the genera Plochionocerus Dejean and Agrodes Nordmann (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Xantholinini), pp. 1-53 in Zootaxa 1584 on pages 41-46, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.178410