Tepuidessus Spangler 1981

Abstract

<i>Tepuidessus</i> Spangler, 1981 <p> <b>Type species.</b> <i>Tepuidessus breweri</i> Spangler, 1981, by original designation.</p> <p> <b> Revised diagnosis for <i>Tepuidessus</i></b> . Black Bidessini with dorsal surface densely setose; clypeus not modified; occipital line absent; basal striae on pronotum and elytra absent or present; sutural line on elytron absent; longitudinal elytral carina on disc absent; basal epipleural transverse carina absent; metathoracic wings reduced to short membranous vestiges without any sign of venation (Fig. 6); median lobe simple, with narrowed apical part in ventral view; parameres two-segmented. Species inhabiting tepui plateaus in Venezuela.</p> <p> Note that the presence/absence of pronotal and/or elytral striae has also been shown to possibly vary even within closely related species of other genera, e.g. <i>Limbodessus</i> Guignot, 1939 (see Balke <i>et al</i>. 2015).</p>Published as part of <i>Kodada, Jan, Hendrich, Lars & Balke, Michael, 2018, Tepuidessus grulai sp. nov. from Acopán Tepui in Venezuela (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Hydroporinae: Bidessini), pp. 561-572 in Zootaxa 4434 (3)</i> on page 562, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4434.3.10, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/1292243">http://zenodo.org/record/1292243</a&gt