Pseudoluperus Beller & Hatch 1932
Creators: name: Viswajyothi, Keezhpattillam
name: Clark, Shawn M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Pseudoluperus

description: Genus Pseudoluperus Beller & Hatch, 1932
Pseudoluperus Beller & Hatch, 1932: 115 (type species Pseudoluperus Beller & Hatch, 1932, by monotypy).
Remarks
In the catalogue of Wilcox (1973), Pseudoluperus constituted a heterogeneous assemblage of all sorts of Scelidites (and even a species from another section). Subsequent to that catalogue, Andrews & Gilbert (2005) added one more species to the genus, transferring Luperodes histrio from the genus Keitheatus. Some of the species formerly included in Pseudoluperus have already been transferred to other genera [P. subcostatus (Jacoby, 1888), P. subglabratus (Jacoby, 1888), and P. viridis (Jacoby, 1892) to Microscelida by Clark (1998); P. lecontii (Crotch, 1873) to Scelolyperus by Clark (1996); P. wallacei Wilcox, 1965 to Synetocephalus Fall, 1910 by Riley et al. (2002b)]. In this publication, we transfer most of the remaining species to other genera: Pseudoluperus cyanellus, P. histrio, and P. maculicollis to Amplioluperus gen. nov., P. tuberculatus to Cornuventer gen. nov., P. flavofemoratus to Geethaluperus gen. nov., P. dissimilis and P. wickhami to Mexiluperus gen. nov., P. fulgidus and P. linus to Monoaster gen. nov., P. spretus (Horn, 1893) and P. texanus (Horn, 1893) to Texiluperus gen. nov., and P. albomarginatus Jacoby, 1888 to Trichobrotica. As a result of the aforementioned taxonomic changes, Pseudoluperus now contains only P. bakeri [originally named in Pseudoluperus], P. decipiens (Horn, 1893) [originally named in Scelolyperus], and P. longulus (LeConte, 1857) [originally named in Luperus]. However, P. bakeri was reduced to a synonym of P. longulus by Wilcox (1965). Here, we agree with this synonymy and also reduce P. decipiens to a junior synonym of P. longulus syn. nov. In some male specimens of this species, the more distal antennomeres are enlarged and distinctly flattened (or even concave) on one side. In other males (especially those from the more southern part of the range) and in all females, the antennae are slender and unmodified. This difference has been employed to distinguish the putative species. However, the male antennae of some specimens are intermediate. We believe the difference to be clinal and not diagnostic of different species. We have examined the male holotype of Luperus longulus (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University), the male holotype of Scelolyperus decipiens (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University), and the male holotype of P. bakeri (National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC). In all three specimens, the antennae are at least moderately enlarged. Minor differences also exist in the aedeagi, but these are not correlated with other characters, and we interpret them as mere intraspecific variability. See Figs 123 and 213 for illustrations of Pseudoluperus.
description: Published as part of Viswajyothi, Keezhpattillam & Clark, Shawn M., 2022, New World genera of Galerucinae Latreille, 1802 (tribes Galerucini Latreille, 1802, Metacyclini Chapuis, 1875, and Luperini Gistel, 1848): an annotated list and identification key (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), pp. 1-102 in European Journal of Taxonomy 842 on page 32, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.842.1945, http://zenodo.org/record/7222499