Agra, arboreal beetles of Neotropical forests: platyscelis‐grovip systematics (Carabidae)

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Abstract
This paper is the second in a series designed to cover taxonomi‐cally all species‐groupsof Agra,whose cumulative ranges extend from southernmost Texas to northernmost Argentina. A clear understanding of their phylo‐geny and distribution may provide very good data with which to test recently proposed hypotheses of tropical species richness and endemism, particularly the forest refugium and 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.Four names are presented in new combinations:Agra baccii(Straneo),Agra platyscelis(Chaudoir),Agra guy anensis(Chaudoir) andAgra semiviridis(Straneo). All these species were originally placed inAgridia.One synonymy was detected;Agra clangorisLiebke is a junior synonymat A. guy anensis(Chaudoir).Sixteen new species ofAgraare described from the following type‐localities:howdenorum(Simla, 5.0 miles north of Arima, Trinidad, West Indies),ecaligis(Rio Bobonanza, Mentalva, Ecuador),yodella(Gourdonville, French Guiana),limulus(Tarapoto, Peru),tumatumari(Rio Potaro, Tumatumari, Guyana),varzeicola(Parana Costa da Ilha de Curari (Rio Solimoes), Amazonas, Brazil),ariasi(Reserva Ducke, 26.0 km northeast of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil),oliven‐cana(Sao Paulo d'Olivenija, Amazonas, Brazil),iquitosana(Iquitos, Peru),tarapotoana(Tarapoto, Peru),titan(type area ‐ French Guiana),seabrae(Mangabeira, near Mocajuba, Para, Brazil),caliga(Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, Republic of Panama),yeti(Rosario Oeste, Minas Gerais, Brazil),sasquatch(Bele'm, Para, Brazil),azureipennis(type area – Northern Venezuela). Twenty‐one species arrayed in three subgroups are fully discussed. Their cumulative range extends from Panama south to Bolivia, east to the mouth of the Amazon River and north along the coast of the Guyanas; 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 of organisms.