Revision and phylogenetic analysis of the Central American endemic genus Phalangogonia Burmeister (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Anoplognathini)

Phalangogonia Burmeister is revised and now includes eight species: P. dispar Ohaus, P. jamesonae, sp.n., P. lacordairei Bates, P. obesa Burmeister, P. parilis Bates, P. punctata Franz, P. ratcliff ei, sp.n. and P. sperata Sharp. Phalangogonia debilidens Ohaus is placed in synonymy with P. sperata. Lectotypes are designated for the following nominal species: P. dispar Ohaus, P. lacordairei Bates, P. parilis Bates and P. championi Bates. Neotypes are designated for: P. obesa Burmeister, P. sperata Sharp, P. stipes Sharp and P. debilidens Ohaus. A cladistic analysis of the species of Phalangogonia was executed using thirty-two morphological characters of adults. From: Systematic Entomology (2003) 28, pp. 323–338 © 2003 The Royal Entomological Society. Used by permission.. 324 Andrew B. T. Smith & Miguel Angel Morón, from Systematic Entomology, 28 (2003) Fig.1. Habitus of male Phalangogonia ratcliffei. Geographical distribution Phalangogonia species are mainly found in cloud forest habitats of southern Mexico and Central America. Th e present distribution of the species of Phalangogonia refl ects the mesoAmerican montane pattern proposed by Halff ter (1978). Th is pattern has been observed and discussed with regards to the genera of Proculini (Scarabaeoidea: Passalidae) (Reyes-Castillo & Halff ter, 1978), genera of Heterosternina (Rutelini) (Morón, 1983) and many species of Chrysina Kirby (=Plusiotis Burmeister) (Rutelini) (Morón, 1991), Although Phalangogonia is endemic to Mexico and Central America, it is related to other groups of rutelines predominantly from South America. Th e early Phalangogonia species perhaps evolved in northern South America and traversed the Central American land bridge during the Pliocene. Th is scenario has been hypothesized for woody plant migration from South America into Central America (Burnham & Graham, 1999). Since no Phalangogonia are known from South America, the ancestral populations either went extinct or extant populations have yet to be discovered. Another possibility is that ances tral Phalangogonia arrived in nuclear Central America (from Chiapas to Honduras) during the Eocene or Oligocene via Caribbean land bridges and island stepping-stones (a possibility discussed by Iturralde-Vinent & MacPhee, 1999). A formal biogeographical analysis of Rutelinae will need to be conducted before either scenario can be substantiated using corroborat-