Panabachia Park, 1942

Panabachia Park, 1942 View in CoL

Type species.

Bryaxis vulnerata Sharp, 1887 , designated by Park (1942).

Diagnosis.

The genus Panabachia was established principally to recognize the sexually dimorphic male pronotal modification of the type species ( Bryaxis vulnerata Sharp, 1887 , also once placed in Reichenbachia Raffray 1904 ]). They are otherwise rather generalized Brachyglutini , with a median longitudinal gular carina, 11 - segmented antennae, two basal carinae on the first visible abdominal segment (usually close together and diverging), and subcontiguous mesocoxae. Several new species described herein do not exhibit pronotal dimorphism, but are unambiguously associated by other characters.

No male genitalia have ever been described for the genus. The male genitalia among the new species falls into two very distinct classes. One, represented by only two species, has a short broadly rounded aedeagus bearing a transverse basal bridge. The other typically exhibits an elongate median lobe (incorporating a narrow basal bulb), usually thin parameres, and, separately, a highly specialized pair of articulating accessory sclerites in the distal abdominal membrane. Simple forms of these constitute narrow, flat sclerites, but they become elaborated into complex, coiled, and possibly spring-like structures that probably participate in the extrusion / retraction of the genitalia. We cannot be 100 % certain which of these major genitalic forms corresponds to the type ( P. vulnerata ), as its male genitalia has never been illustrated. However, we have dissected a specimen from Costa Rica ( LSAM) that appears externally to be very similar to this species (Fig. 2 A, B View Figure 2 ), perhaps conspecific, and its male genitalia represents the more common form, with an elongate median lobe flanked by separate accessory sclerites (Fig. 2 C View Figure 2 ). Among those with distinct accessory sclerites, the male genitalia of the species can be further subdivided into two distinctive forms, one in which the median lobe narrows beyond the basal foramen, and has the apical portion tubular and curving, and one in which the median lobe is shorter and variously flattened beyond the basal foramen. These appear to correspond perfectly to the main clades in Muñoz-Tobar and Caterino (2020), discussed further in the discussion section.