Erotylus is a genus in the pleasing fungus beetle family (Erotylidae). This neotropical genus belongs to the subfamily Erotylinae, of which it is the type genus.
Most of the roughly 100 species of Erotylus are found in the Amazon Basin. Some occur in the eastern Andes foothills, and a few are found in Central America north to Honduras.Alvarenga, Moacyr (1994): Catálogo dos Erotylidae (Coleoptera) Neotropicais. [Catalogue of Neotropical Erotylidae (Coleoptera). Portuguese with English abstract.] Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 11(1): 1-175. . The occasional reports further north are probably introduced individuals.
Description Erotylus beetles are large by their family's standards, around 15-25 mm (0.6-1 in) long and 6-17 mm wide as adults. They have a plump body, with large but not outsized antennae and legs. The compound eyes have small ommatidia, and the snout is square-shaped and narrowed at the base. Their 11-segmented antennae have a "club" at the tip in which the segments are still distinctly visible. The end segments of the maxillary palps are wider than long, the maxillary lacinia bear two small teeth, and the mouth-cavity sides are flattened lobes. The thorax is large and wide, lacks a distinct margin at the base (unlike in the close relative Cypherotylus), and the surface of the pronotum is conspicously dimpled (usually but not always much more so than in the relative Prepopharus). The elytra have a blunt teardrop shape when the wings are closed, and the first three segments of the tarsi are increasingly widened. However, it must be noted that these traits also apply to the close relative Erotylina (which historically was included in Erotylus).Deelder, C.L. (1942): Revision of the Erotylidae (Coleoptera) of the Leiden Museum. Zool. Meded. 24(3): 49-115. Fulltext
Nomenclature Early 18th-century authors usually placed these beetles in a genus named Pseudochrysomela after a description by Johann Voet. This is sometimes cited with the year 1788, the release of Voet's first Catalogus Systematicus Coleopterorum, but was actually only published in the second posthumous volume in 1806. Either way, even though Voet already preferred two-word names instead of the older descriptive ones, his nomenclature was still using pre-Linnean names while looking deceptively Linnean. This confused many subsequent authors, until all of Voet's names were decided to be unavailable under ICZN rules. In the course of clarifying this situation, the type species of Voet's Pseudochrysomela was declared to be P.paramariboensis – another unavailable name, but referring to the same species as Linnaeus' Coccinella gigantea, validly described in 1758 already. Frederick Hope in 1841 declared C.gigantea the type species of Johann Fabricius' 1775 genus Erotylus, making Pseudochrysomela redundant and limiting the practical consequences of its invalidity.Skelley, Paul E. (2020): Nomenclatural notes for the Erotylinae (Coleoptera: Erotylidae). Insect. Mund. 0767: 1–35. PDF fulltxt
The genus name Pseudochrysomela was re-established validly in 1925 by Maurice Pic, for a new genus of darkling beetles (family Tenebrionidae) which is today placed in the tribe Cnodalonini of subfamily Stenochiinae.
Species
The following species are placed here:BiolibP. Węgrzynowicz. (2002) "Morphology, phylogeny and classification of the family Erotylidae based on adult characters (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea)"
Erotylus aegrotus Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus aequatoris Kirsch, 1883 Erotylus apiatoides Mader, 1942 Erotylus aulicus Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus bellopictus Kuhnt, 1910 Erotylus bibalteatus Alvarenga, 1976 (= E.bifasciatus Crotch, 1876 (non Olivier, 1792: preoccupied)) Erotylus boylei Alvarenga, 1971 Erotylus buckleyi Crotch, 1876 Erotylus cassidoides Crotch, 1876 Erotylus chevrolati Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus cingulatus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus clarosignatus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus contractus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus cornaliae Guérin-Méneville, 1855 Erotylus crotchi Deelder, 1942 Erotylus crucifer Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus decipiens Crotch, 1876 Erotylus delenitus Alvarenga, 1976 (= E.hieroglyphicus Crotch, 1876 nec Duponchel 1825: preoccupied) Erotylus dilaceratus Kirsch, 1876 Erotylus egregius Guérin, 1946 Erotylus elegans Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus elegantulus Guérin, 1946 Erotylus elongatulus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus flavopunctatus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus flavotaeniatus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus forsteri Delkeskamp, 1957 Erotylus fulvofasciatus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus giganteus (Linnaeus, 1758) Erotylus glaber Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus guerinii De Mey, 1838 Erotylus hexagrammus Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus histrio Erotylus histrionicus Duponchel, 1825 Erotylus imitans Kirsch, 1876 Erotylus incertus Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus incomparabilis Perty, 1832 Erotylus involutus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus jucundus Mader, 1942 Erotylus kuhnti Deelder, 1942 Erotylus laetus Deelder, 1942 Erotylus latreillei Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus longulus Guérin, 1956 Erotylus loratus Erichson, 1847 Erotylus luteotaeniatus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus margineguttatus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus marginemaculatus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus melanostictus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus mirabilis Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus mutatus Mader, 1942 Erotylus nautae Crotch, 1876 Erotylus neglectus Mader, 1942 Erotylus nemo Guérin, 1956 Erotylus nigrocinctus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus nigromarmoratus Mader, 1942 Erotylus nigronotatus Gorham, 1888 Erotylus oblitus Guérin, 1956 Erotylus ochraceus Guérin, 1946 Erotylus olivieri Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus onagga Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus papulosus Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus paraensis Alvarenga, 1976 Erotylus parcepunctatus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus pardalis Erichson, 1848 Erotylus parvus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus peregrinus Mader, 1942 Erotylus permutatus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus peruvianus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus picturatus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus pretiosus Perty, 1832 Erotylus propinquus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus pseudomelanostictus Guérin, 1946 Erotylus pulcher Mader, 1942 Erotylus quadricruentatus Alvarenga, 1976 Erotylus reichei Guérin-Méneville, 1841 Erotylus rudepunctatus Crotch, 1876 Erotylus sanguinans Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus scaphidomorphoides Crotch, 1876 Erotylus scenicus Erichson, 1847 Erotylus schenklingi Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus sericeus Delkeskamp, 1957 Erotylus singularis Kirsch, 1876 Erotylus spectrum Thomson, 1856 Erotylus staudingeri Mader, 1935 Erotylus subreticulatus Guérin-Méneville, 1841 Erotylus superbus Guérin, 1956 Erotylus taeniatus Latreille, 1813 (= E.fulgurator, E.sanguiniceps, E.taeniatoides) Erotylus terminalis Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus theodori Crotch, 1876 Erotylus trichromaticus Alvarenga, 1976 Erotylus tripartitus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus ustulatus Erichson, 1847 Erotylus varians Crotch, 1876 Erotylus variegatus Fabricius, 1781 (= E.isequeboensis, I.pustulatus, E.sanguinolentus) Erotylus variomaculatus Kuhnt, 1908 Erotylus vinculatus Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus voeti Lacordaire, 1842 Erotylus ziczac Taschenberg, 1870
In addition, most of the large, well-rounded and conspicuous pleasing fungus beetles – as well as some others, such as Triplax species – described before the mid-18th century were at first placed into Erotylus. As their distinctness from E.giganteus and its closest relatives became clear, they were moved to other genera – mostly Erotylinae such as Aegithus, Barytopus, Erotylina, Iphiclus or Prepopharus. The identity of "Erotylus sexfasciatus", described by Fabricius in 1792, is still unresolved.
Another supposed member of this genus, "E.flavipes", described from Jamaica by Fabricius in 1781, turned out to be the leaf beetle Colaspis occidentalis described by Linnaeus in 1758.Skelley, Paul E. (2009): Pleasing fungus beetles of the West Indies (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Erotylinae). Insect.Mund. 82: 1-94. PDF fulltext
It is also likely that undescribed Erotylus species exist. A review of the UPN collection found 5 identifiable species represented among the 34 Erotylus specimens, with most occurring in the Andes but some in the eastern lowlands of Colombia, and the upland species E.taeniatus markedly more commonly and widely found than the others. But almost two-thirds of the Erotylus in this collection (22 specimens) could not be assigned to a species known from the region. These include collections from the uplands and both slopes of the Andes.Torres-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 Científica 29(1): e3002.
In addition, fossil remains found in copal were assigned to this genus.Lyubarsky, G.Yu. & Perkovsky, E.E. (2012): A new genus of Erotylidae from Eocene amber (Coleoptera: Clavicornia[: Erotylidae]). Russian Entomological Journal 21(1): 35-38. PDF fulltext
References