A taxonomic revision of the Canthon subgenus Pseudepilissus Martínez, 1954 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Abstract

The subgenus Canthon (Pseudepilissus) Martínez, 1954 is revised. Four valid species are redescribed: Canthon (Pseudepilissus) muticus Harold, 1867; C. (P.) lunatus Schmidt, 1922; C. (P.) planus Lucas, 1857 and C. (P.) reichei Felsche, 1910. Three species assigned to other groups are transferred in the subgenus: C. (P.) quadratus Blanchard, 1843 [previously Canthon “incertae sedis”]; C. (P.) edentulus Harold, 1868 [previously Canthon “incertae sedis”] and C. (P.) seminulus Harold, 1867 comb. nov. [previously Vulcanocanthon]. The genus Vulcanocanthon Pereira & Martínez, 1960 syn. nov. is synonymized with Canthon (Pseudepilissus). Three subspecies are raised to species level: C. (P.) tibialis Schmidt, 1922 stat. nov. [previously C. (P.) lunatus tibialis]; C. (P.) granuliceps Felsche, 1910 stat. nov. [previously C. edentulus granuliceps] and C. (P.) hendrichsi Halffter & Martínez, 1968 stat. nov. [previously C. (P.) muticus hendrichsi]. C. (P.) honsi Balthasar, 1939 syn. nov. is synonymized with C. (P.) reichei Felsche, 1910. Four new species are described: Canthon (P.) arriagadai sp. nov., Canthon (P.) bonaerensis sp. nov., Canthon (P.) vidaurrei sp. nov. and Canthon (P.) ziggy sp. nov., bringing the number of species in the subgenus to 14. Lectotypes are designated for six species C. (P.) muticus Harold, 1867; C. (P.) reichei Felsche, 1910; C. (P.) planus Lucas, 1857; C. (P.) seminulus Harold, 1867; C. (P.) granuliceps Felsche, 1910 and C. (P.) quadratus Blanchard, 1843. A detailed literature review, synonymies, description, illustration of key morphological characters, data on the studied material and geographic distribution are provided for each species.