Species diversity of Tenebrionidae in mountaintops of extraandean volcanoes of Payunia (Argentina), with descriptions of two new species

CARRARA RODOLFO; SILVESTRO, VIOLETA A.; CHELI, GERMÁN H.; ROIG-JUÑENT, SERGIO A.; FLORES, GUSTAVO E.

Prague

Simposio; Fifth International Tenebrionoidea Symposium; 2018

The north of Neuquén province shares with the south of Mendoza province the districtPayunia of the Patagonic steppe, which is characterized by the presence of approximately 800volcanoes. In this work we reported the results of two consecutive years of prospection inhigh elevational environments of two extraandean volcanoes that are separated by 120 km ofdistance each other, Tromen (3978 msnm) and Auca Mahuida (2214 msnm). We found thatAuca Mahuida harbours a total diversity of 10 tenebrionid species and Tromen 9, with 0.18percent of species shared between them (Jaccard index of similarity). Two new microendemicspecies of Tenebrionidae are described: Scotobius sp. nov. (Tenebrioninae: Scotobiini) fromAuca Mahuida and Psectrascelis sp. nov. (Pimeliinae: Nycteliini) from Tromen. Photographsfor these two new species are included, with comparisons to other known species of thesegenera. The presence of endemic species of volcanoes occurs in other isolated mountains ofPayunia and could be the result of particular habitat condition and isolation that drives theevolution of new species. Also isolation between both mountains could be the reason of lowsimilarity of epigean tenebrionds.