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 15 genera. Of these, the most specious genus is Praocis Eschscholtz with 77 species and 8 subspecies arranged in nine subgenera distributed in arid lands from Central Peru and Bolivia to the Southern part of Patagonia in Chile and Argentina. In this contribution we revise the subgenus Mesopraocis Flores & Pizarro-Araya which is composed of four species endemic to northern Chile and inhabit from 25° South (Paposo, Antofagasta Region) to 31° South (Caleta Limarí, Coquimbo Region). The species of this genus extend from sea level to an altitude of ~1325 msl and are associated with coastal dunes stabilized with vegetation or paleodunes in the transitional coastal desert of Chile. Praocis flava Kulzer is synonymized with P. pilula Laporte. Other species of the subgenus are: Praocis calderana Kulzer, Praocis nitens Kulzer, and a new species. We present an analysis of the characters of the species concluding that species can be distinguished by characters of pronotum. Habitus illustrations, a comparative table of characters, and a distribution map are also presented.