Unseeing and Unseen: On the Distribution, Morphology, and Larva of One of North America's Rarest Histerid Beetles, Geocolus caecus Wenzel (Coleoptera: Histeridae)

Abstract

We have revealed a surprisingly wide distribution for the blind, subterranean histerid species, Geocolus caecus Wenzel, largely through the use of buried “pipe” traps. This species is now known from Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Kentucky, and we also describe its newly discovered larva, associated by DNA sequences. The phylogenetic position of this unusual genus has received little attention, but its continued placement in Dendrophilinae, though not in any specific tribe, appears justified. Morphological similarities to other putative relatives, especially the Mediterranean Triballodes Schmidt, less so New Zealand's Brounister Leschen and Ôhara, are suggestive, though at least some are likely to be symplesiomorphies.