A New Click Beetle Genus from Southern Chile: Llanquihue (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Elaterinae, Pomachiliini)

Llanquihue, a new genus of Elateridae from Southern Chile, is here described and illustrated with 2 species: Llanquihue vittipennis (Candèze) new comb., and L. carlota sp. nov. The genus Llanquihue belongs to the subfamily Elaterinae and to the tribe Pomachiliini.


Materials and Methods
Measurements were made with a calibrated ocular micrometer. The total body length was measured (mm) from the frontal margin to the apex of the elytra, and elytral width was the maximum width of the elytra, when both sides were in focus. Indices are indicated as follows. 1) The eye index an index of eye prominence was obtained by subtracting the interocular head (frons) width from the maximum width of the head across the eyes and dividing the result by the maximum head width. 2) Pronotal elytral index was obtained by dividing the length of the pronotum by the length of the elytra, the pronotal elytral index is used here because it gives a general idea of how big the pronotum is compared with the elytra. 3) The pronotal index was obtained by dividing the length of the pronotum by its width (Calder 1996). 4)  Antennomere proportion was measured as the length of antennomeres 2 through 11 as 1/100th of the total antennal length. This is not measured for antennomere 1 because it is curved and hard to measure. 5) Total body length was measured from dorsal view including the head. 6) Tarsomere proportion gives the lengths of the tarsomeres as 1/100th of the total tarsal length.
Specimens from which the genitalia were to be removed were first relaxed overnight in warm water with a few drops of soap added. For examination of male genitalia, the last abdominal segment was removed and placed in water with a few drops of soap in a Petri dish and left over night. Then, genitalia were removed and glued to a point card on its lateral side with balsam, and placed on the pin under the specimen. Becker (1958) was followed for female genitalia examination.
Drawings were made using a camera lucida on a dissecting scope Leica MZ7. All dates in the records given were converted to a standard format of day.month.year, with the month given in Roman numerals. Places and names in the recorded labels are the original spellings.
Museums and institutions that contributed to this work are indicated in the acknowledgements and in the text by the acronyms in brackets (Arnett et al 1997), excluding [ETA] author's collection. Type specimen repositories are also indicated in descriptions. Type material will be deposit at the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago Chile [MNNC].

Description
Body stout (Figures 1a, 2, and 3); general body color brown, dark brown, or reddish brown, blackish, a long darker stripe on the elytral suture, extended side ways covering almost all elytral surface, broader anteriorly and narrower towards elytral apex.

Scutellum
Tongue shape; mesosternal cavity more or less oval, deep; posterior margin of mesosternal cavity extending shortly in distance posteriorly; mesocoxae longer than wide; mesocoxal cavity deep, open to mesepimeron and mesepisternum; mesosternum and metasternum separated by distinct external suture.

Elytra
Parallel-sided on half of its anterior length; 2.5-3.1X pronotal length; striate, striae with pits tear shape and or circular; apex truncate or dentate.

Metathoracic wings
Apical portion of the wing with 2 soft plates; r4 present, wedge cell present width 3.78X its length, joint of MP 3 + MP 4 +CuA 1 slightly bifurcate at origin; radial cell 4X its width, MP 4 + CuA 1 connected with CuA 2 , base of wedge cell not contiguous with connective vein between MP 4 + CuA 1 and CuA 2 ( Figure 6). Metathoracic coxal plate widest region closest to medial body line; with setae semi-decumbent, gold.

Genitalia
Female: vagina without sclerotized internal structures; strongly elongate and enlarged towards the apex, slightly wrinkled at apex; before bursa, 2 globular gland similar in shape; bursa copulatrix 0.73 mm in diameter; globular, with two sclerotized fan shaped structures with teeth alternating between long and short and another long sclerotized structure dorsal; after bursa spermathecal gland with a minimum of 2 small sclerotized structures comb-shaped, and one delicate nonsclerotized sinuate structure attached (Figures 5 a, b). Male: parameres not reaching apex of aedeagus, wider than width of aedeagus (Figures 13-14).

Distribution
Llanquihue province, and Chiloé island, Region X of Chile. Temperate Rainforests.

Biology
Adult specimens were collected during spring season. Species from this new genus do not have distinctive sexual dimorphism and specimens need to be dissected to discriminate between males and females.

Etymology
The designation of this genus is after the Llanquihue Lake that in Mapudungun means immerse placed. The Llanquihue Lake is the second largest lake in Chile, with an area of 860 km2.

Remarks
The new genus Llanquihue belongs to the subfamily Elaterinae (Leach 1815) because the adults are characterized by (Calder 1996): head distinctly convex anteriorly; frontal carina usually complete across front between eyes or incomplete medially; antennae nearly always serrate; prosternal spine usually longer than the procoxal diameter; mesocoxal cavity open to both mesepimeron and mesepisternum; hind wing with a short radial cell; vein MP 4 with apparent cross vein to CuA 2 .

Material Studied
Holotype. Male: 0.53 mm in length, 0.27 mm in width. Deromecus vittipennis (card name hand written, border of card with a green line). Collection E. Candèze, Coll. R. I. Sc. N. B. (Figure 1b) [ISNB]. When Candèze designated types, he drew a color line on the label, depending on the region the animal was from (Hayek 1974

Biology
There is no other currently available information on the biology of this species.

Biology
There is slight chromatic variation among specimens of this species, mainly posterior angles reddish or brownish reddish, and humeral area light yellowish or yellowish. There is no other currently available information on the biology of this species.

Etymology
This genus is dedicated to my mother Carlota, who always took me, when I was young, to Southern Chile, especially to Llanquihue Lake, to know and appreciate nature. I have kept the feminine name on the species name.

Remarks
Llanquihue carlota can be recognized by its dark brown semi-shiny puncticulate pronotal integument, pale vestiture, and posterior angles slightly divergent.

Discussion
The genus Llanquihue differs from the genus Deromecus because of the following main characters: body stout; frontoclypeal region sloping to base of clypeus; frontoclypeal carina not protruding; clypeus narrow at center; base of pronotum with 2 notch; elytra with a dark stripe; wing venation lacks patch over rp 1 , whereas the genus Deromecus presents: body cylindrical; protruding frontoclypeal carina; clypeus broadly vertical, not narrow at middle, not intercepted by frontoclypeal carina; base of pronotum without a notch; elytra without a dark stripe; wing venation with a patch over rp 1 .
providing Chilean elaterids for these studies. Thanks to Nancy V. Arias for her illustrations, Susan Crutchfield for editing this manuscript, and to an anonymous reviewer. Special thanks are given to Professor Richard M. Bohart, for his constant encouragement and support of my research. Financial support was provided by the National Science Foundation, DEB 0445413.