Genus
Platychile
1 species
*Platychile* is one of the most enigmatic members of the southern African Manticorini radiation, known from a single pale, flightless species. Its broad labrum — reflected in the genus name, from the Greek for "broad lip" — sets it apart from its dark, heavily built relatives. This monotypic genus inhabits open ground in northern South Africa.
Diagnosis
DIAGNOSIS — *Platychile* Macleay, 1825. Monotypic. Body ~25 mm, depressed, apterous; dorsum matte, pale/testaceous — unique coloration within Manticorini. Head broad; labrum transverse, conspicuously broad. Pronotum subquadrate. Elytra fused. Eyes medium. Diurnal. Separated from *Manticora* and *Mantica* by pale, non-melanized dorsum and broad labrum. No confusion genera recorded.
Etymology
From Greek *platýs* (broad) + χεῖλος (lip) — "broad-lipped".
Species (1)
Distribution map — GBIF occurrences
GBIF · © OpenStreetMap · © CartoDB
Overview
*Platychile* is one of the most enigmatic members of the southern African Manticorini radiation, known from a single pale, flightless species. Its broad labrum — reflected in the genus name, from the Greek for "broad lip" — sets it apart from its dark, heavily built relatives. This monotypic genus inhabits open ground in northern South Africa.
Type species: Cicindela pallida Olivier, 1790 [by monotypy (MacLeay 1825)]
1. Wiesner, J. (2020) — checklist 2. MacLeay, W.S. (1825) — original genus description 3. Cassola, F. (1981–2008) — Various papers on African and Oriental Cicindelidae; cytotaxonomic and revisionary studies (multiple periodicals). 4. Werner, K. (1999/2000) — The Tiger Beetles of Africa (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae). Volumes I (1999, 191 pp) and II (2000, 207 pp). Taita Publishers, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. [Color picture-catalogue of 396 species in 34 genera; covers sub-Saharan Africa excluding Madagascar; 779 colour photographs in Vol II alone] 5. Duran, D.P. & Gough, H.M. (2020) — Validation of tiger beetles as distinct family (Cicindelidae) and reclassification within Coleoptera. Systematic Entomology 45(4): 723-729. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12440 [validates Cicindelidae as separate family] 6. Gough, H.M., Duran, D.P., Kawahara, A.Y. & Toussaint, E.F.A. (2018) — A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelinae). Systematic Entomology 43(3): 567-586. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12324 [ML phylogeny of 328 taxa, 9 gene regions] 7. Wiesner, J. (2020) — Checklist of the Tiger Beetles of the World, 2nd edition (Verzeichnis der Sandlaufkäfer der Welt, 27. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Cicindelidae). Winterwork, Borsdorf, 534 pp. [Authoritative current world checklist] 8. MacLeay, W.S. (1825) — Annulosa javanica, or an attempt to illustrate the natural affinities and analogies of the insects collected in Java. Kingsbury, Parbury & Allen, London. BHL bibliography/8676 [open access] 9. Horn, W. (1908, 1910, 1915) — Coleoptera Adephaga, fam. Carabidae, subfam. Cicindelinae. In: Wytsman, P. (Ed.) Genera Insectorum, fascicles 82a, 82b, 82c. L. Desmet-Verteneuil, Bruxelles. BHL bibliography/45481 [foundational historical monograph of Cicindelidae, treating all genera known at the time] +5 citations · full list in paid edition
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Genera and Subgenera of Tiger Beetles
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