"Out of the Shield": the Discovery of Platyparnus Shepard and Barr, 2018 (Coleoptera: Dryopidae) in Brazil with New Species.

Abstract

The Neotropical Dryopidae genus Platyparnus Shepard and Barr, 2018 was recently established based on three species originally described in Helichus Erichson, 1847: Platyparnus bollowi (Hinton, 1939), Platyparnus frater (Hinton, 1939) and Platyparnus gibbicollis (Hinton, 1939). Until now, the genus and its species have been reported solely in the Guiana Shield area (in French Guiana and Guyana). Based on the examination of material from several localities in Brazil, we report Platyparnus for the first time in the country and describe two new species based on males and females: Platyparnus beatriceae sp. nov. and Platyparnus glaucoi sp. nov. We also propose an amendment to the original diagnosis of Platyparnus, present an updated key to the species, and provide new records for P. frater. Since the new species described here and P. frater were found to occur below the Equator and far south the Amazon River, the geographic distribution of the genus is extended to outside the Guiana Shield.