No abstract

The Epicauta vittata group are commonly known as striped blister beetles and was defined by previous authors to include 32 species, 18 from North America, Central America and northern South America, and 14 from southern South America. In the present revision we revised 22 species from South America, excluding the following southern South American species: E. borgmeieri Denier, 1935; E. floydwerneri Martínez, 1955; E. franciscana Denier, 1935; E. fulginosa (Oliver, 1795); E. purpureiceps (Berg, 1889); E. rutilifrons Borchmann, 1930; and E. zebra (Dohrn, 1876) because they do not have the diagnostic characters of the group. The species of the E. vittata group from southern South America are: E. bosqi Denier, 1935; E. clericalis (Berg, 1881); E. grammica (Fischer, 1827); E. leopardina (Haag-Rutemberg, 1880); E. luteolineata Pic, 1933; E. missionum (Berg, 1881); E. monachica (Berg, 1883); E. rutilifrons Borchmann, 1930; plus two more species E. excavata (Klug, 1825); and E. semivittata (Fairmaire, 1875) until now not included in other groups. We provide a complete diagnosis of the E. vittata group from southern South America, redescribing and illustrating all included species. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of female and male genitalia are presented for the first time for these species. Finally, we provide an identification key for the ten species presently included in the E. vittata group, and update the geographic distribution of each species.

We undertook a panbiogeographic analysis of 23 species of the Epicauta maculata group of America-Epicauta abeona Pinto, Epicauta adspersa (Klug), Epicauta andersoni Werner, Epicauta atomaria (Germar), Epicauta apache Pinto, Epicauta cavernosa (Courbon), Epicauta dilatipennis Pic, Epicauta fulvicornis (Burmeister), Epicauta horni Champion, Epicauta jeffersi Pinto, Epicauta koheleri Denier, Epicauta lizeri Denier, E. maculata (Say), Epicauta magnomaculata Martin, Epicauta minutepunctata Borchmann, Epicauta nigropunctata (Blanchard), Epicauta normalis Werner, Epicauta ocellata (Dugès), Epicauta pardalis LeConte, picauta phoenix Werner, Epicauta pluvialis Borchmann, Epicauta proscripta Werner, Epicauta rubella Denier, and Epicauta ventralis Werner-with the purpose of analyzing the distributional data for taxa, to establish patterns of distribution of an ancestral biota and areas where these groups have interacted. Based on the overlap of 20 individual tracks, four generalized tracks constituted by different numbers of species were identified; two of them are located in the Nearctic region and the Mexican transition zone (tracks "A" and "B"), and the other two are distributed in the Neotropical region and the South America transition zone ("C", "D"). Six nodes were recognized: Two of them are included in the Nearctic Region, node 'I' located in northern USA and node 'II' located in southwestern USA, both at the intersection of the tracks "A" and "B". The other four are included in the Neotropical Region at the intersection of the tracks "C" and "D": Node 'III' is located in Chaco province; node 'IV' is located in Parana Forest province; node 'V' is located in the northwest of Argentina in Puna province, and node 'VI' is located in Monte province.