Iphiclus is a large genus– possibly the most diverse – in the pleasing fungus beetlefamily (Erotylidae). This genus belongs to subfamily Erotylinae and occurs across the Neotropics. Its almost 300 named species are divided into several subgenera, whose monophyly (and validity), however, remains to be determined. Most of these beetles, as adults as well as larvae, feed on polypores (shelf fungi).
The genus name was established by Louis Chevrolat in 1837[verification needed]. Chevrolat's name was, however, overshadowed by the extensive study of Jean Théodore Lacordaire a few years later, who described most of the currently-known species and introduced the genus name Brachysphoenus. That genus name, or spelling variants thereof, was generally used by subsequent authors – namely in the seminal works on the genus by George Crotch in the mid-1870s, Henry Gorham in the late 1880s, Paul Kuhnt around 1910, Leopold Mader around 1940, and Jacintho Guérin in 1956 –, until Iphiclus was reinstated by Moacyr Alvarenga in the 1960s.
Description
Iphiclus unites species which are fairly large by the standards of their family (about 6.5-17 mm long and 4-9 mm wide as adults), and generally similar to Erotylus and other close relatives. They can be recognized by an elongated oval shape and elytra which are usually only slightly convex (unlike some relatives such as Aegithus, which are almost hemispherical); the rear edge of the pronotum has at least a weak – in some, a pronounced – rearward bulge in the middle lobe. The head of Ischyrus has a short wedge-like snout, compound eyes with small ommatidia, a short wedge-shaped clypeus with a wide base, and 11-segmented antennae with a "club" at the tip in which the segments are still distinctly visible. The mentum has a triangular plate, the ends of the maxillary palps are widened to a triangle shape, the maxillary lacinia bear two small teeth, and the mouth-cavity sides are flattened lobes. There are no ornaments on the head, and the pronotum is likewise smooth. The legs are of moderate length, with tarsi whose first three segments are increasingly widened.
Systematics
The division into subgenera must be considered provisional. As of the early 21st century, even the monophyly of the genus as such is not considered likely anymore; some subgenera (in particular Habrodactylus) are probably paraphyletic, while others (such as Megaprotus) seem to warrant recognition as distinct genera.
Subgenus Aegithomorphus
Iphiclus (Aegithomorphus) Lacordaire, 1842. Type species: I.biplagiatus.
Body oval. Pronotum usually almost square and flat or slightly convex, rarely more strongly convex. Prosternum keeled in some species, but unkeeled in others. Tarsi wide and robust, first segment of hindleg tarsi elongated. Higly variable; presence or lack of prosternal keel distinguishes otherwise similar species.
Lowlands and foothills from Guatemala to southern Brazil.
Iphiclus (Habrodactylus) Lacordaire, 1842. Type species: I.sulphurifer. Probably a paraphyletic group, with I.conspicillatusbasal to the entire assemblage of Iphiclus and related genera, while some other species placed in this subgenus are closer to genus Ellipticus and Erotylina.
Body oval; rather small (less than 10 mm). Pronotum usually short and wide, more or less tapering to the front. Tarsi usually narrow; on the hindlegs the first tarsal segment is elongated, usually as long as segments 2 and 3 together. Some are patterned with eyespots; others are largely brownish with little black patterning. Larvae feed individually in some species, but as a group in I.conspicillatus.
Lowlands and foothills from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.
Body usually elongated-oval. Pronotum wide. First segment of hindleg tarsi usually shorter than segments 2 and 3 together. Elytra often patterned with light spots or eyespots. Larvae feed individually?
Lowlands and foothills from Guatemala to northern Paraguay.
Body rounded oval, more or less strongly convex back, fairly small. Pronotum short and wide, strongly tapering to the front and with a deeply concave frontal margin. Tarsi usually narrow. Some are patterned with eyespots. Males of some species have a deep groove in the front of the head, and widened foreleg tarsi. Larvae feed individually?
Lowlands and foothills from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.
Body oval, sides almost parallel in some species. Pronotum comparatively long, slightly tapering to the front, with a strongly bulging center of rear edge; color usually black, sometimes bicolored or light. Elytra with lengthwise double rows of small punctuations, or smooth; color usually black, as well as yellow, orange or red, in crosswise jagged bands or dots.
Lowlands and foothills from Guatemala to northern Argentina. At least in Colombia, seem to prefer lower-lying regions.
Resemble Aegithus in coloration, being black with unpatterned tan elytra, but are overall flatter and narrower in shape; larvae also similar to Aegithus.
Guadeloupe and Dominica (Lesser Antilles) and possibly adjacent islands; a record from French Guiana is erroneous.
Iphiclus (Saccomorphus) Chevrolat , 1837 (= Charidemus, Morphoides Hope, 1841). Type species: I.limbatus. Close to genus Erotylina.
Body oval, with more or less parallel sides. Pronotum almost square, flat, often with dimple at base which contains numerous small punctuations. Elytra usually dull, not shiny. At least some apparently eat a wider range of fungi than other species placed in Iphiclus.
Lowlands and foothills from Panama to northern Argentina and Chile. At least in Colombia, seem to range rather far up in the Andes.
Iphiclus virgatus was long placed in genus Mycotretus, but while it does seem to belong into Iphiclus, as of 2023 its precise relationships were still undetermined.
As can be expected from a widespread and highly diverse Neotropical beetle genus, undescribed species may still exist. A review of the UPN collection found 16 identifiable species represented among the 69 ColombianIphiclus specimens, with Cundinamarca Department featuring all but 3 of the recognized species. In addition, 12 specimens (about 17%) from southern and central Colombia could be identified as Iphiclus, but not assigned to a species known from the region.
During an earlier review of the famous George Crotch collection at the UMZC, about 425 confirmed or presumed Iphiclus (in Crotch's time, Brachysphoenus) were counted, with roughly 130 species present; only about 15 of these were represented by more than a handful of specimens, however. Of these, the Iphiclus (Neobarytopus)I.quinquefasciatus, I.nigropictus and I.odyneroides with, respectively, 15, 12 and 11 specimens, as well as the Iphiclus (Iphiclus)I.abdominalis and the Iphiclus (Saccomorphus)I.haematocephalus with 12 specimens each are most abundantly represented. In addition, about 13% of Crotch's "Brachysphoenus" were still unidentified by the end of the 20th century. These consist of two sets of five specimens representing four species altogether – two presumed by Crotch to be Iphiclus (Neobarytopus) close to I.batesi and/or I.geometra, and two putative Iphiclus (Brachymerus)–, 30 specimens (number of species unknown) of possible Iphiclus (Habrodactylus), and 14 specimens which Crotch considered either Iphiclus (Neobarytopus) of unclear affiliations or incertae sedis within the genus when he last sorted them (they were pinned between all other of his "Brachysphoenus" and his "Typocephalus"). Most intriguing is a single suspected Iphiclus (Sternolobus); it has a prepared "TYPE" label which is otherwise blank, and appears to have been one of the beetles Crotch prepared to describe as new species when he died in 1874 only 32 years old.
A beetle described by Johan Fabricius as "Erotylus unifasciatus" was tentatively placed in "Brachysphoenus" (Morphoides) by Leopold Mader, who considered it undeterminable after consulting Jean Lacordaire's 1842 Erotylidae monograph, commenting "it would be for the best if such dubious and insufficiently described species could be altogether deleted ftom the catalogues". However, Mader had overlooked Louis Chevrolat's 1843 study, in which Fabricius' beetle was identified as the Tenebrionidae species now known as Cuphotescinctus, which is deceptively similar to some Erotylinae.
1234567891011121314151617181920Alvarenga, Moacyr (1994): Catálogo dos Erotylidae (Coleoptera) Neotropicais. [Catalogue of Neotropical Erotylidae (Coleoptera). Portuguese with English abstract.] Revista Brasileira de Zoologia11(1): 1-175. doi:10.1590/S0101-81751994000100001.
12345Skelley, Paul E. (2009): Pleasing fungus beetles of the West Indies (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Erotylinae). Insect.Mund.82: 1-94. PDF fulltext
↑Deelder, C.L. (1942): Revision of the Erotylidae (Coleoptera) of the Leiden Museum. Zool. Meded.24(3): 49-115. Fulltext
12Skelley, Paul E. (2020): Nomenclatural notes for the Erotylinae (Coleoptera: Erotylidae). Insect. Mundi0767: 1–35. PDF fulltext
12345678Mader, Leopold (1944): Die Erotyliden von Peru. (Col.). ["The erotylids of Peru". Article in German.] Stettiner entomologische Zeitung105: 94-117. PDF fulltext
123Torres-Pachón, Mónica; Gasca-Álvarez, Héctor Jaime; Bustos-Martínez, Miller Felipe; Skelley, Paul E. & García-Sarmiento, Martha J. (2026): Erotylinae (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) de la colección entomológica del Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. ["Erotylinae (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) housed in Natural History Museum Entomological Collection of Universidad Pedagógica Nacional." Spanish with English abstract.] Revista UDCA Actualidad & Divulgación Científica29(1): e3002. doi:10.31910/rudca.v29.n1.2026.3002
↑"Dominican Republic" (and "Haiti" and "Hispaniola") is in error.
↑Skelley, Paul E. (1998): A Catalogue of the Crotch Collection of Erotylidae (Coleoptera). Ann. Zool.48(1/2): 1-44. PDF fulltext
↑"Am besten wäre es, wenn so dubiose und unzulänglich beschriebene Arten überhaupt aus den Katalogen gelöscht werden könnten."
↑Chevrolat, Louis Alexandre Auguste (1843): Observations sur des espèces du genre Erotylus de Fabricius et d'Olivier, examinées et reconnues par M. A. Chevrolat, et rappel de ces espèces aux genres nouvellement établis. ["Observations on species of Fabricius' and Olivier's genera Erotylus examined and identified by Mr. A. Chevrolat, and reassignment of these species to newly established genera." Article in French.] Révue Zoologique6(3):79-81 Fulltext
.png)
