Promecheilidae Lacordaire 1859
Creators: name: Lawrence, John F.
name: Leschen, Richard A. B.
name: Zaitsev, Artem
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Promecheilidae

description: KEY TO WORLD GENERA OF PROMECHEILIDAE
This key is derived in part from information in Watt (1967, 1970, 1974a, 1974b), Lawrence (1994), Lawrence et al. (2010), Leschen et al. (2016) and Solervicens and Elgueta (2018). Families that may be confused with or are related to promecheilids are included.
1. Antennal insertions concealed from above by frontal ridges; procoxa with internal extension that is longer than globular exposed portion of coxa; mesocoxal cavities closed laterally by meeting of mesoventrite and metaventrite; aedeagus inverted, with tegmen lying below penis ...... Zopheridae (not keyed further)
1 I. Antennal insertions exposed from above; procoxa with short internal extension that is never longer than exposed portion of coxa; mesocoxal cavities partly closed laterally by mesepimera; aedeagus normally oriented, with tegmen lying above penis ........................................... 2
2(1). Body elongate and parallel-sided; body more than 3 times as long as wide; elytra more than 4 times as long as pronotum; width of pronotum equal to that of combined elytra, with anterior and posterior angles right or very slightly obtuse, never produced anteriorly; eyes relatively small and not emarginate; interocular distance much greater than longitudinal eye diameter; antennae shorter than or only slightly longer than combined lengths of head and prothorax; abdominal ventrites 1–4 connate; tegmen not divided into basale and apicale; internal female tract with a large, elongate bursa with a small, slender spermatheca attached near its middle; New Zealand ....... Chalcodryidae (not keyed further; see Watt 1974a)
2 I. Body form varied, but always with base of pronotum narrower than combined elytral bases; abdominal ventrites 3 and 4 never connate; tegmen divided into basale and apicale; internal female tract not as above; without other features combined .......... 3
3(2). Procoxae globular or slightly transverse, not projecting ventrally; prosternal process usually about half as wide as mid length of coxal cavity and anterior pronotal angles at least slightly produced forward; IF prosternal process narrower or anterior pronotal angles not produced forward, then sides of pronotum dentate OR tarsi 4-4-4; antennae with 2-, 3-, or 4-segmented club (sometimes weak); upper surfaces often tuberculate and/ or clothed with thickened or scale-like setae ............. Ulodidae (not keyed further)
3 I. Procoxae distinctly projecting ventrally below prosternal process; anterior pronotal angles obsolete or very broadly rounded, neither produced nor acute; elytral surfaces clothed with minute to moderately long, fine setae, without thickened or scale-like setae; prosternal process always less than half as wide as mid length of coxal cavity; sides of pronotum never dentate; tarsi always 5-5-4; antennae never with distinct club, although terminal antennomeres may be slightly wider than immediately preceding ones (Promecheilidae) ............... 4
4(3). Sides of pronotum straight and almost parallel, slightly diverging anteriorly; anterior pronotal angles broadly rounded, although not produced anteriorly; eyes large and distinctly emarginate; elytra tuberculate, each with a longitudinal undulate sublateral carina; scutellar shield triangular; New Zealand (Fig. 1B) ....... .................. Onysius anomalus Broun
4 I. Sides of pronotum always curved; anterior and posterior pronotal angles rounded or oblique; eyes at most weakly emarginate; elytra not tuberculate, without undulate carina; scutellar shield almost always broadly rounded at apex .................... 5
5(4). Shortest distance between mesocoxal and metacoxal cavities about equal to length of first abdominal ventrite; hind wings absent .......................................... 6
5 I. Shortest distance between mesocoxal and metacoxal cavities distinctly greater than length of first abdominal ventrite; hind wings well-developed .................... 11 6(5). Prosternal process complete, laterally expanded to partly close procoxal cavities .............................................. 7
6 I. Prosternal process incomplete, not extending posteriorly behind coxae and not closing procoxal cavities ........... 10
7(6). Lateral pronotal carinae absent; elytral humeri absent; scutellar shield with acute apex; Tasmania .............. Melytra ovata Pascoe
7 I. Lateral pronotal carinae present; elytral humeri present; scutellar shield semicircular; southern South America .......... 8
8(7). Posterior pronotal angles distinct, sharp; elytra with distinct puncture rows; southern Chile, Tierra del Fuego, Falkland Islands .............. Parahelops Waterhouse
8 I. Posterior pronotal angles rounded; elytra without distinct puncture rows .......... 9
9(8). Lateral pronotal and elytral carinae explanate; form broadly oval; Falkland Islands ................... Pseudodarwinella amaroides (Enderlein)
9 I. Lateral pronotal and elytral carinae not explanate; form narrower, elongate-oval; southern Chile, Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia ........... Hydromedion Waterhouse
10(6). Lateral pronotal carinae absent; prosternal process acute at apex; mesocoxae separated by less than coxal width; metacoxae separated by less than half coxal width; South Georgia .................................. ........... Perimylops antarcticus Müller
10 I. Lateral pronotal carinae present; prosternal intercoxal process blunt at apex; mesocoxae separated by slightly more than a coxal width; metacoxae separated by just less than a coxal width; Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia ......................... ...... Chanopterus paradoxus Boheman
11(5). Pronotal disc coarsely and/or unevenly punctate, with impunctate elevations; elytral punctation distinctly seriate or, if not, then tibiae and antennomeres 1–8 yellow with dark transverse bands; apical maxillary palpomere slightly securiform, its length at least twice its width; Chile ................ 12
11 I. Pronotal disc finely, densely and more or less evenly punctate, without impunctate elevations; elytral punctation never distinctly seriate, sometimes with longitudinal bands of punctures; elytral surface with a weak, interconnected network of raised areas; apical maxillary palpomere strongly securiform, its length less than 1.3 times its width; Tasmania .......... 13
12(11). Tibiae, tarsi and antennomeres 1–8 yellow with a series of transverse dark markings; eyes weakly emarginate; pronotum with a few small dark impunctate elevations contrasting with the lighter background; elytra with variable pattern of dark brown and yellow, with or without seriate punctation .................. Promecheilus Solier
12 I. Tibiae, tarsi and antennomeres unicolorous, without dark markings; eyes not emarginate; pronotum unicolorous, reddish-brown or dark brown, with impunctate elevations not contrasting in color; elytral punctation distinctly seriate ................................... ........ Calbuco obscurus Solervicens and Elgueta
13(11). Elytra more or less parallel-sided; elytral punctation more or less evenly distributed, not forming short rows or longitudinal clusters; eyes slightly smaller, less than 0.3 times as long as head width behind eyes, and distance between eyes 0.45 times distance across them; elytra reddishbrown, with network of raised areas slightly darker and with a pair of broad, longitudinal light yellow stripes at sides; northern and eastern Tasmania ............. ................ Sirrhas limbatus Champion
13 I. Elytra not parallel-sided, widest behind middle; elytral punctation not evenly distributed, forming short incomplete rows or longitudinal clusters; eyes slightly larger, more than 3.5 times as long as head width behind eyes, and distance between eyes 0.33 times distance across them; elytra dark brown with an extensive network of bright yellow raised areas; western Tasmania (Fig. 1A) ................ ............. Sirrhas variegatus Lawrence
description: Published as part of Lawrence, John F., Leschen, Richard A. B. & Zaitsev, Artem, 2020, Onysius Broun: The First New Zealand Genus Of Promecheilidae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea), pp. 27-35 in The Coleopterists Bulletin 74 (1) on pages 33-34, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065X-74.1.27, http://zenodo.org/record/3746913