The genus Brachypsectra LeConte , 1874 ( Coleoptera : Brachypsectridae ) in the Palaearctic Region

We summarize all information regarding the genus Brachypsectra (Coleoptera: Brachypsectridae) in the Palaearctic Region. New material of B. kadleci Hájek, 2010 is reported from western and southern Iran and its intraspecific variability in coloration and morphology is described and figured. Brachypsectra jaechi sp. nov. from southern Turkey is described from males, and an unassociated Brachypsectra species from Cyprus is reported, including the descriptions of its female and larva. These findings are the first records of this genus as well as of the family Brachypsectridae for Turkey and Cyprus. Additionally, a diagnostic key to the adult males and larvae of all Brachypsectra species is updated.


Introduction
The genus Brachypsectra LeConte, 1874, the sole member of the family Brachypsectridae, was originally placed in the dascilloid Rhipiceridae and later in the Dascillidae (LeConte 1874; Horn 1881, respectively).However, subsequent workers recognized this group as an independent family with close affinities to present-day Elateroidea (e.g., Blair 1930;Crowson 1973;Lawrence & Newton 1995), which has recently been confirmed by both morphological and molecular-based studies (Lawrence et al. 2011;McKenna et al. 2015).
Previously, only five formally described extant species were accommodated in Brachypsectra.LeConte (1874) described B. fulva LeConte, 1874 from North America and Blair (1930) added B. fuscula Blair, 1930 andB. lampyroides Blair, 1930 from the Oriental Region.Later authors focused mainly on the American B. fulva (e.g., Neck 1993;Fleenor & Taber 1999, 2000;Young 2002) and only Woodruff (2004) described B. vivafosile Woodruff, 2004 from the Dominican Republic.Costa et al. (2006) described the larva of an unnamed species from Australia, which had been mentioned earlier by Lawrence (1991) and Lawrence & Britton (1991).Information on the Oriental species had remained scarce until Klausnitzer (2009) studied several larvae from Goa, India, which are probably conspecific with B. lampyroides.Hájek (2010) described the first Brachypsectra species in the Palaearctic Region from a single specimen (i.e., B. kadleci Hájek, 2010) and hypothesized that findings of more undescribed species of this genus could be expected in the future.Indeed, the possibility to study material from major European museums together with fresh material collected by the authors has led to the discovery of several distinct Brachypsectra populations in Iran, Turkey and Cyprus.
In this study, we summarize all information regarding the genus Brachypsectra in the Palaearctic Region.New material of B. kadleci from different localities in Iran is reported and its intraspecific variability is described and figured.Brachypsectra jaechi sp.nov.from Turkey is described from males and an unassociated Brachypsectra species from Cyprus is reported, including the description of its female and larva.Additionally, a diagnostic key to the adult males and larvae of all Brachypsectra species is updated.

Material and methods
We studied the larval and adult male morphology of specimens of Brachypsectra.The genitalia were dissected, kept in hot 10% KOH for approximately five minutes, transferred to glycerol and subsequently photographed by a digital camera attached to a stereoscopic microscope.Measurements were taken with an ocular scale bar on a microscope as follows: body length -measured from the fore margin of the head to the apex of the elytra; body width -at the widest part; pronotal length -at midline; pronotal width -between the posterior angles; minimum interocular distance -in anterodorsal view; maximum eye diameter -in lateral view.

Institutional abbreviations
The examined material is deposited in the following collections, listed here by their abbreviated names:

Remarks
For a detailed generic description and species overview see Costa et al. (2006Costa et al. ( , 2010)).Distributions of the currently recognized species are given in Table 1.The present study concentrates on the species of Brachypsectra in the Palaearctic Region.Hájek, 2010 Figs 1A-D; 2A, D-E Brachypsectra kadleci Hájek, 2010: 30.

Diagnosis
Males  times as long as wide.Body surface testaceous, with elytra either darker, reddish-brown to dark brown (specimens from western Iran, including the holotype; Fig. 1A-B) or yellowish-testaceous to testaceous (populations from southern Iran; Fig. 1C-D), legs yellow to yellowish-testaceous. Eyes large, minimum interocular distance 0.95-1.05times maximum eye diameter.Pronotum 1.8-1.9times wider than long, subtrapezoidal, widest posteriorly, width between posterior angles 1. 5-1.7 times width between anterior angles; lateral sides convex, strongly converging anteriorly and moderately strongly diverging posteriorly; posterior angles produced posteriorly and slightly to moderately laterally, apically truncated, with short distinct posterior carina, well separated from lateral carina in dorsal view 2A).Scutellum subtrapezoidal, with apex narrowly Phallobase short, narrowed and slightly emarginated basally, almost sub-parallel apically (Fig. 2D-E).Female unknown.For the differences between B. kadleci and B. jaechi sp.nov.see the Diagnosis section under the latter species.

Distribution
This species is known from western and southern Iran (Fig. 3).

Remarks
There is intraspecific variability in populations of B. kadleci.Specimens from the type locality (Lorestan, western Iran; Fig. 3) are distinctly bicolored with darker elytra (Fig. 1A-B) and have the median lobe of the aedeagus almost sub-parallel, more distinctly attenuating subapically (Fig. 2D).Specimens collected in southern Iran (Fig. 3) are almost uniformly yellowish-testaceous to testaceous (Fig. 1C-D), with the median lobe of the aedeagus more gradually narrowed towards the apex (Fig. 2E).Taking into consideration the gradation in elytral coloration (from yellowish-testaceous through testaceous and reddish-brown to dark brown; Fig. 1A-D), slight differences in the shape of the median lobe and the rarity of the specimens available for study, we refrain here from making any taxonomic conclusions and consider all specimens from Iran conspecific.Brachypsectra fulva from North America and Brachypsectra sp. from Australia have even wider distribution ranges (ca 2000 km) than B. kadleci (ca 1000 km), and B. fulva exhibits much wider geographic variation in size and external morphology (Costa et al. 2006).More material from the different localities in Iran, as well as DNA-based studies, might help to resolve the taxonomic status of the different Iranian populations considered here conservatively as B. kadleci.2D-F).

Etymology
The specific epithet is a patronym in honor of Manfred A. Jäch (NHMW).

Female and immature stages
Unknown.

Intraspecific variability
The second known male specimen (Fig. 1F) is 5.0 mm long, with the body 2.4 times as long as wide, pronotum 2.0 times as wide as long, and the minimum distance between eyes 1.40 times longer than the eye diameter.

Distribution
This species is known only from Kemer in Antalya Province, southern Turkey (Fig. 3).

Larva
Body. 4.6 mm long, 2.2 mm wide (without lateral lobes).Body broadly ovate, strongly flattened, covered with modified scale-like setae; thoracic segments and abdominal segments I-VIII with lateral lobes bearing elongate setiferous lobules (Fig. 2I-J).Body yellow, except dark brown pigmented head, abdominal segment IX and pigmented areas, median projections and small setiferous tubercles on dorsal surfaces, and apical parts of legs.
Head.Prognathous, subtrapezoidal, slightly elevated, slightly wider than long, narrower than prothorax, with large stemma on each side (Fig. 2K-L).Epicranial stem very short, frontal arms slightly lyriform.Antennae less than half of head width; antennomere 1 short, about as long as wide, antennomere 2 enlarged, 2 times as wide as long, widest medially, sparsely covered with modified scale-like setae, shorter in middle, longer and arranged in rows laterally; antennomere 3 highly reduced; sensorium conical.Labrum free, transverse, small, setose apically.Mandibles falcate, moderately stout, considerably curved.Maxillary palpi four-segmented, with segment 2 longest.Labial palpi two-segmented, basal segment about as long as wide, apical segment about as long as basal one, elongate, narrow.Gular sutures present, gula very narrow.Cervical region membranous, dorsally with transverse row of setiferous tubercles, disconnected medially.tHoracic terga.Transverse, sparsely covered with setiferous tubercles, each tergum with pair of laterotergal lobes on each side; lobes equal in length, narrow, lined with narrow, setiferous lobules.Each tergum with median oval projection (largest at metatergum) and pair of irregularly shaped pigment patches (located more posteriorly at meso-and metatergum), consisting of several smaller slightly protruding pigmented areas.Mesotergum transversely divided into anterior very narrow plate covered uniformly with setiferous tubercles and posterior plate bearing also median projection and pigment patches.Thoracic sterna unpigmented, almost smooth, clothed very sparsely with short setae.Legs well-developed, prothoracic leg and mesothoracic spiracle not close together; spiracles located on mesosternal anterolateral transverse sclerites.aBdominal terga.Terga I-VIII transverse, covered with setiferous tubercles and with median projection (missing from tergum VIII) and pair of pigment patches similarly as on thoracic terga (smaller and transverse on anterior segments, larger and plate-like on posterior segments), with pair of laterotergal lobes on each side; posterior lobe similar to thoracic ones, anterior lobe minute, bearing 1-3 setiferous lobules.Lateral parts of abdominal tergites bearing spiracles, with two small, rounded pigment patches behind spiracles on terga I-V, with one patch on tergum VI, remaining terga without such patches.Tergum IX forming long, well-sclerotized, tail-like plate covered with setiferous tubercles, with several lateral branches of different lengths.Abdominal sterna I-V without well-developed pigment patches, sterna VI-VII with four pigment patches of different sizes on each side; sternum VIII with pair of larger patches.

Remarks
The only adult specimen of Brachypsectra known from Cyprus is a dead, partly damaged female (Fig. 1G-H) found by Ch.Makris in August 2011 under oak bark in Vretsia, Paphos (Fig. 4A-B).Unfortunately, the last three abdominal ventrites are missing in this specimen (Fig. 1H), so we are not able to study the genitalia.In addition, the specimen might be teratological as it has a minute hind leg (the second is missing) with fused tarsomeres and only one claw (Fig. 2H).Subsequent collecting efforts resulted in only finding a single larval specimen.
We are not able to assign the Brachypsectra female and larva from Cyprus to any described species since only males are known in B. kadleci and B. jaechi sp.nov.The distribution of Brachypsectra species as well as the larger eyes in the female suggest its close relationship to B. jaechi sp.nov.from Turkey rather than to B. kadleci from Iran.The specimen from Cyprus differs from B. jaechi sp.nov. in having a lighter prosternum and mesoventrite, wider pronotal posterior angles with posterior carina very close to the lateral carina, and a shallower emarginate apex of the scutellum; however, we cannot exclude the possibility that this is only a result of sexual dimorphism.Until more material of both sexes and/or larvae for the Palaearctic species is available for study, we retain the population from Cyprus as Brachypsectra sp.

Discussion
Brachypsectra is usually considered a rare beetle lineage with only a scarce representation in collections (Costa et al. 2006).However, this might be caused by the cryptic life of the immature stages and short life span of adults (Fleenor & Taber 1999;Costa et al. 2010).Indeed, the rarity of these beetles might have been overestimated since they may be quite abundant locally (see Fleenor & Taber 1999).Additionally, considering the world distribution pattern of this genus (both present-day and historical; Costa et al. 2006;Klausnitzer 2009) and the recent findings of Brachypsectra in the Palaearctic Region (Fig. 3), we can expect that many more populations/species will be discovered in different zoogeographical regions in the near future.