Revision of the Neotropical subgenus Mesopraocis Flores & Pizarro-Araya of the genus Praocis Eschscholtz (Pimeliinae: Praociini)

G.E. FLORES Y J. PIZARRO-ARAYA

Praga

Simposio; V International Tenebrionoidea Symposium; 2018

Praociini is a tribe of Pimeliinae distributed in Western and Southern South America with 151 species arranged in 15genera. Of these, the most specious genus is Praocis Eschscholtz with 77species and 8 subspecies arranged in nine subgenera distributed in arid landsfrom Central Peru and Boliviato the Southern part of Patagonia in Chileand Argentina.In this contribution we revise the subgenus Mesopraocis Flores &Pizarro-Araya which is composed of four species endemic to northern Chile andinhabit from 25° South (Paposo, Antofagasta Region) to 31° South (CaletaLimarí, Coquimbo Region). The species of this genus extend from sea level to analtitude of ~1325 msl and are associated with coastal dunes stabilized withvegetation or paleodunes in the transitional coastal desert of Chile.Praocis flava Kulzer is synonymized with P. pilula Laporte. Otherspecies of the subgenus are: Praocis calderana Kulzer, Praocisnitens Kulzer, and a new species. We present an analysis of the characters ofthe species concluding that species can be distinguished by characters ofpronotum. Habitus illustrations, a comparative table of characters, and adistribution map are also presented.