DOI: 10.15468/xtxes6
title: Two Evaniosomini Species (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Associated with Decaying Carcasses in Argentina, with Remarks on the Tribal Assignment of Achanius Erichson

description: This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Flores, Gustavo E., Aballay, Fernando H. (2015): Two Evaniosomini Species (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Associated with Decaying Carcasses in Argentina, with Remarks on the Tribal Assignment of Achanius Erichson. The Coleopterists Bulletin (mo 14) 69: 167-179, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065X-69.mo4.167ABSTRACTThinobatis profana Kulzer is transferred from Thinobatis (Pimeliinae: Thinobatini) to Vaniosus Kulzer (Pimeliinae: Evaniosomini) on the basis of constant tribal level characters. The genus Thinobatis Eschscholtz is thereby removed from the Argentine fauna and confined only to coastal areas of Chile. The genus Achanius Erichson (including the subgenus Ambigatus Fairmaire) is transferred from Edrotini (Eurymetopini of Doyen) to Evaniosomini based on the structure of the internal female reproductive tract and mandible configuration. Achanius (Ambigatus) antofagastensis Flores and Aballay, new species, is described. Redescriptions of Thinobatis, Vaniosus, and Achanius, with habitus photographs, SEM images, and illustrations of female genital features, are provided. The eating habits of V. profana and A. antofagastensis feeding on decomposing pig and llama carcasses are given for the first time. These two species showed preferences for microhabitat conditions and association with stages of decomposition. They should be considered for potential forensic importance on bodies found in arid environments.Key Words: behavior, taxonomy, darkling beetles, Pimeliinae, Thinobatis, Vaniosus, seasonality, Chuck TriplehornThe tribe Evaniosomini (Pimeliinae) was established by Lacordaire (1859) to include the South American genera Evaniosomus Guérin-Méneville and Melaphorus Guérin-Méneville. Gemminger and Harold (1870) added Aryenis Bates and Evelina Thomson. Gebien (1910) added Chorasmius Bates, but listed Melaphorus in Triorophini. Later, Gebien (1937) transferred Achanius Erichson from Epitragini and Ambigatus Fairmaire from Triorophini to Evaniosomini. Kulzer (1956) transferred Melaphorus from Triorophini to Evaniosomini and described a new genus Vaniosus Kulzer, Evaniosomini. Doyen (1994) transferred Achanius and Ambigatus to Eurymetopini (later synonymized under Edrotini by Bouchard et al. 2005). Finally, Endrödi-Younga (1998) transferred the South African Oppenheimeria Koch from Epitragini to Evaniosomini.Species of Evaniosomini inhabit arid and semiarid lands from central Peru to central Argentina in South America and also occur in Namibia in southern Africa. The Evaniosomini include winged and flightless genera, but all species can be recognized by a slender, elongate body and cylindrical prothorax that is noticeably more slender than the elytra.Kulzer (1956) also revised the South American tribe Thinobatini (Pimeliinae), describing the new genus Cordibates and some new species of Thinobatis Eschscholtz. Species of both genera can be found in Pacific coastal areas of Chile and Peru (Peña 1974a, b), with the exception of Thinobatis profana Kulzer that inhabits central Argentina and does not fit the definition of the genus (Peña 1974b).In recent years, one of us (FHA), studying arthropod succession on pig carcasses in several places across Argentina, found specimens of two tenebrionid species characterized by a slender, elongate body and cylindrical prothorax noticeably more slender than the elytra, which we interpreted as belonging to the Pimeliine tribe Evaniosomini. For the first species, we requested pictures of the types of T. profana from the Natural History Museum in Basel, Switzerland and confirmed it belongs to this species. The second is a new species of Achanius according to the definition of the genus by Kulzer (1950).Later, we studied other known species of Thinobatis, and a character analysis was performed to establish whether or not T. profana belongs to Thinobatini as described originally, since there are no other members of this tribe described for South America east of the Andes mountains (Flores and Pizarro-Araya 2006). We also examined most of the known species of Achanius and of Melaphorus, Aryenis, and Vaniosus to establish whether Achanius belongs to Evaniosomini (Gebien 1937) or to Edrotini as defined by Doyen (1994).The objectives of this study are to redescribe and illustrate the genera Thinobatis, Vaniosus, and Achanius, to describe and illustrate a new species of Achanius, to establish a generic placement for T. profana and a natural tribal placement for Achanius, and to present the biology of these two species in different microhabitat conditions. This paper is dedicated to Dr. Charles A. Triplehorn for celebrating his 88 th birthday.