Agra, arboreal beetles of Neotropical forests:famulagroup offormicariagroup systematics (carabidae)

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Abstract
This paper is the third in a series designed to cover taxonomically all species groups ofAgra, whose cumulative ranges extend from southernmost Texas to northernmost Argentina. A clear understanding of phylogeny and distribution of these beetles may provide very good data with which to test recently proposed hypotheses of tropical species richness and endemism, particularly the forest refugium‐flood‐zone hypothesis. New methods of description are used in the series to cover the several hundred species in less time and space, to provide a consistent numerical data base for those who choose to use it, and to use more efficiently and effectively the descriptive process. In this paper, two species groups,famulaandformicaria, are discussed.Three names are presented in new combinations:Agra rubricollis(Chaudoir),Agra smuragdinipennis(Steinheil),Agra phaenicodera(Bates). All these species were originally placed inAgridiaand now are considered as part ofAgra, formicariagroup. One synonymy (formicaria = batesii), previously recognized by Chaudoir, is questioned but left standing because of no recourse to type material offormicariaThomson.Twelve new species of Agra in two species groups are described from the following type localities:famula group; cuneolus(BRAZIL, Amazonas, Manaus),tessera(BRAZIL, Pará Santarem),campana(REPUBLIC OF PANAMA, Panama, Cerro Campana),spina(BRAZIL, Mato Grosso, Rosario Oeste),fortuna(REPUBLIC OF PANAMA, Chiriqui, Fortuna);formicariagroup;blumax(BRAZIL, Sāo Paulo, Mato de Governo),inpa(BRAZIL, Amazonas, Manaus),zona(REPUBLIC OF PANAMA, Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island),aeroides(BRAZIL, Amazonas, Sāo Paulo d'Olivenqa),leuhea(REPUBLIC OF PANAMA, Canal Zone, 5.0 miles northwest of Gamboa),vation(PERU, Loreto, Pebas),moira(BRAZIL, Amazonas, Manaus area, Paraná do Xiboreninho). Twenty species arrayed in two groups and ten subgroups are fully discussed. Their cumulative range extends from Costa Rica south to Bolivia and east to the middle of the Amazon Basin;most species are very locally distributed. A dot map illustrates the range of each taxon.Distribution and relationships are discussed in general, but detailed cladistic analysis is deferred until taxonomy of the five groups of SectionErythropusis completed. Species distributions correspond to pleistocene refuges suggested by other authors based on other classes or groups of organisms.

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