Menieroclerus Bartlett & Gerstmeier, gen. nov.

Menieroclerus Bartlett & Gerstmeier, gen. nov.

Type species. Opilo nigropiceus Kuwert, 1893 (by present designation).

Diagnosis. The strongly bilobate condition of the labrum (Fig. 11) is possibly unique among Cleridae; however, even if it is not unique then the following characters in combination are diagnostic for Menieroclerus gen. n.: terminal maxillary palpomeres securiform (Fig. 13); gular sutures very weakly divergent (appearing parallel); elytron with ten rows of deep, laterally nodulate punctures (Fig. 12 b); tibiae longitudinally carinate; tibial spur formula 2–2–2; tarsal pad formula 4–4–4 (basitarsal pads substantially smaller than those of tarsomeres 2–4), tarsal pads not divided into paired lobes (Fig. 15).

Menieroclerus gen. n. differs from Thanasimodes (= ‘T’) in the following character states: Labrum bilobate (emarginate in ‘T’); gular sutures parallel (convergent in ‘T’); procoxal cavities posteriorly broadly open (narrowly open to completely closed in ‘T’); tarsal pads not incised (incised in ‘T’); two protibial spurs (none in ‘T’); pretarsal claws appendiculate (simple in ‘T’); elytral punctation nodulate (without nodules in ‘T’); base of CuA1+2 of hindwing detached from CuA (attached to CuA in ‘T’); tegminal phallobasic struts not fused to apodeme (fused to apodeme in ‘T’).

Description. Head. Eyes large, coarsely facetted, frontal rim strongly margined, emarginate above antennal socket; antennae with 11 antennomeres, flagellomeres increasingly dilated towards A 9, A 9–10 cupuliform, A 11 subovate; terminal labial palpomere securiform, maxillary palpomere securiform (Fig. 13); labrum strongly bilobate, lobes extending over mandibles (Fig. 11); gular sutures very weakly divergent (appearing parallel), post gular process a short, slender, bifurcated central sclerite with paired, weakly defined, setose lobes. Thorax. Pronotal disc without median sulcus, subapical depression reasonably well-defined; postero-lateral pits present (Fig. 12 a); procoxal cavities broadly open, prosternal process with small terminal expansion; mesoventrite with rounded anterior process; elytron elongate, disc with ten rows of deep punctures, punctures laterally nodulate (Fig. 12 b), discal vestiture composed of paired sensilla (i.e., each long seta with minute accompanying sensillum at its base), each stria with a single setal pair on the upper anterior rim of each puncture, each interstria with single row of setal pairs; metathoracic wing with CuA1+2 vein narrowly separated from CuA (may appear connected due to continuation of pigmentation to CuA; see Fig. 1); metendosternite as in Figure 10. Legs. Lateral surfaces of tibiae longitudinally carinate; tibial spur formula 2–2–2; tarsomere formula 5–5–5; all basitarsi reduced in length (no visible dorsal surface); tarsal pad formula 4–4–4, basitarsal pads extremely small, pads of T2–4 conspicuous, increasing is size towards T4, pads not divided into paired lobes (i.e., apical margins not divided or emarginate) (Fig. 15); each side of pretarsal claw with a triangular basal denticle. Abdomen. Six ventrites. Male genitalia. Tegmen with phallobasic struts not fused to apodeme (Figs. 2, 3); phallus relatively simple with slender distal process (Fig. 4).

Gender. Masculine.

Systematic placement. By process of elimination, Menieroclerus nigropiceus comb. n. is negatively defined as a member of the subfamily Clerinae simply due to the absence of the following morphological attributes: fourth tarsosomeres minute and hidden between lobes of third tarsomeres (= Korynetinae sensu lato); first tarsomeres well developed, dorsally visible between second tarsomere and tibial distal margin and pretarsal claw tripartite (= Tillinae); apodeme of male tegmen long and membranously connected to phallobase (= Epiclininae); labrum large, generally not emarginate and eyes with ocular notch absent or minutely developed (= Hydnocerinae). No formallyestablished genus-groupings (i.e., tribes) have been proposed for Clerinae. Several informal clerine sub-groups, however, have been preliminarily proposed: the Clerus -series (containing Thanasimus, Stigmatium and Omadius genus-groups), and the Orthrius -group (Gerstmeier 2002; Gerstmeier & Eberle 2011), though the securiform terminal maxillary palpomeres of M. nigropiceus comb. n. prevent its inclusion in any of them.

The taxon-diverse subfamily Clerinae is yet to be adequately defined morphologically or established as a monophylum (Kolibáč 1997; Opitz 2010). A preliminary molecular phylogeny-estimate of Cleridae suggested that the exclusion of Hydnocerinae from Clerinae renders the latter paraphyletic (Gunter et al. 2013). A morphologybased character analysis of clerine and hydnocerine (plus anthicoclerine) genera could be a first step in understanding if/how the genera of Clerinae and Hydnocerinae are related. The threefold usefulness of such a study would be to: a) test the monophyly of Clerinae in relation to the inclusion/exclusion of Hydnocerinae; b) test the monophyly of previously proposed informal clerine groupings; and, c) potentially identify genus-groupings among genera not yet arranged into informal groupings. A moderately large scale study such as this would be necessary before the systematic position of Menieroclerus gen. n. within Clerinae is understood.

Known distribution (Fig. 16). Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Republic of South Africa, Tanzania, Yemen, Zimbabwe.