1. To revise the USA species, comparing results with Townes' (1949) revision. This is mostly done now. I found two undescribed species, which are provisorily named M. annectens, and M. brevicaudatus. They are similar to M. bicolor, and are keyed as such in Townes paper. I got several specimens for each of these species, and you can look at their geographical distribution by accessing the database (below).
2. To database all available specimens of stephanid collected in the USA. This is done, and you can check it out by accessing the database for data on the species of interest.
Known species for the continental USA as follows, listed from the most basal to the most apical taxon.
1. Schlettererius cinctipes (Cresson, 1889)
2. M. californicus Townes, 1949
3. M. texanus Cresson, 1872
4. M. brunneus Cresson, 1865
5. M. arizonicus Townes, 1949
6. M. annectens sp. n., mss.
7. M. bicolor (Westwood, 1841)
|
Pronotum |
Dark morph1 |
Red/dark morph |
8. M. brevicaudatus sp. n., mss.
Townes recognized two subspecies for M. bicolor (Westw.), one with head and pronotum ferrugineous (M. b. bicolor) and another uniformely brown or blackish (M. b. sickmanni). These subspecies are not currently accepted as valid. In fact, a distinction based on color only is not very convincing. However, the interesting thing here is that these two color morphs have a nearly non-overlapping geographical distribution, thus appearing to be two distinctly isolated populations. I am currently trying to solve this problem.
But there is one more problem surrounding this species: one South American species is very similar to M. bicolor and, if they are proved to be conspecific, M. bicolor would have to be considered a junior synonym. To determine the identity of the SA species, however, it would be necessary to examine the holotypes of Stephanus furcatus LePeletier & Serville, 1825, and Stephanus brasiliensis Westwood, 1832, which I could not find yet.
1. Photo courtesy of James B. Whitfield
This page last updated: January 15, 2000.
