Three new species of Macrelmis Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Elmidae: Elminae) from Southeastern Brazil with new definition of species groups to the genus 

Abstract

Three new species of Macrelmis Motschulsky, 1859 are described and illustrated based on adult males from Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo states (southeastern Brazil). A new species groups definition is proposed for the genus, with a redefinition of the former six (aristeae sp. group, celsa sp. group, isus sp. group, granigera sp. group, milleri sp. group and striata sp. group) and designation of four new groups (alea new sp. group, amazonica new sp. group, grandis new sp. group and jureceki new sp. group). The male genitalia of M. clypeata is illustrated for the first time and distributional maps for all species of the genus are provided.

Primer registro de la especie Macrelmis tarsalis (Hinton, 1936) (Coleoptera: Elmidae) para Colombia

“…Recientemente Passos et al (2015) propuso nuevos grupos de especies para este género basados principalmente en la genitalia del macho reformulando los grupos establecidos por Hinton (Clypeata, Granigera, Striata); Spangler (Milleri); y Sampaio (Aristaea, Celsa) y proponiendo cuatro nuevos grupos (Alea, Amazonica, Grandis y Jureceki). Estos autores ubican esta especie en el grupo Grandis, conformada por M. tarsalis y M. grandis (Hinton, 1934) y los cuales se caracterizan porque sus parámeros presentan una constricción longitudinal en vista lateral; la mitad distal de los parámeros y el edeago son curvados fuerte y ventralmente y el edeago es ligeramente más largo que los parámeros, características que se observan en la genitalia (Figura 3).…”

“…Actualmente, Macrelmis comprende 52 especies válidas convirtiéndose en uno de los géneros de élmidos con mayor riqueza de especies conocidas (Passos et al, 2015). Los adultos presentan pronoto cuadrangular, cuerpo robusto, de lados paralelos y una estría accesoria corta en la base de cada élitro, entre la primera y segunda estría (Brown, 1984;Manzo, 2005).…”

Rowlandius dumitrescoae species group: new diagnosis, key and description of new cave-dwelling species from Brazil (Schizomida, Hubbardiidae)

“…In general, species groups facilitate comparisons and identifications in speciose genera as they comprise a subset of a genus, and make the process of understanding relationships more comprehensible (Passos et al 2015). Initially, only few genera were recognized in Schizomida and some of these (e.g., Schizomus Cook, 1899; Trithyreus Kraepelin, 1899) accumulated a number of species, but eventually they were subdivided, first into species groups, some of which were later recognized as new genera (Rowland and Reddell 1979a, b, 1980, 1981).…”

Potential distribution of riffle beetles (Coleoptera: Elmidae) in southern Brazil

“…This methodological choice allows for more accurate estimates of niche breadth and therefore yields more reliable predictions, according to the suggestions of Sánchez-Fernández et al (2011). However, we identified Macrelmis adult specimens to species level using available keys (Hinton 1946;Passos et al 2015). This range covered the south and southeastern regions of Brazil (states of São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul), Paraguay, Uruguay and part of the Argentinean territory (Fig.…”

“…As most specimens available for study were represented by larvae, and only one old study has recorded Elmidae species in RS (Hinton, 1946), our study focused on genus-level identification. However, we identified Macrelmis adult specimens to species level using available keys (Hinton 1946;Passos et al 2015). Thus, SDMs were built for the following taxa: Austrolimnius, Cylloepus, Gyrelmis, Heterelmis, Hexacylloepus, Hexanchorus, Macrelmis, Microcylloepus, Neoelmis, Phanocerus, Stegoelmis, Xenelmis, Macrelmis aeolis, Macrelmis alea, Macrelmis amana, Macrelmis celsa, Macrelmis codris, Macrelmis isis and Macrelmis plaumanni.…”