Cenophenginae Roza, Vega-Badillo, Zaragoza-Caballero, Kundrata & Mermudes

Subfamily Cenophenginae Roza, Vega-Badillo, Zaragoza-Caballero, Kundrata & Mermudes subfam. nov.

Type genus: Cenophengus LeConte, 1881 .

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

Diagnosis and comparison: Cenophenginae can be recognized based on the following unique combination of characters: gular sutures sinuous and widely separated ( Fig. 4C View Figure 4 ); tentorial pits widely separated ( Fig. 4C View Figure 4 ); pronotum from as wide as long to longer than wide ( Fig. 4A, B View Figure 4 ); prosternum moderately transverse, in front of procoxae usually longer than width of procoxal cavity ( Fig. 4C View Figure 4 ); elytra with sides subparallel ( Fig. 4A, B View Figure 4 ); aedeagus with median lobe not divided and with a distinct flagellum; and each paramere widened at mid-length in dorsal view, subparallel in lateral view ( Fig. 4D, E View Figure 4 ).

Members of this subfamily can be distinguished easily from all other Phengodidae by the parameres, which are each subparallel over much of their length in lateral view (parameres tapered beyond mid-length or gradually narrowed in other subfamilies). Cenophenginae are similar to the Asian Cydistinae in having a relatively longer prosternum than all remaining New World phengodids; however, they differ from Cydistinae in having the median lobe of the aedeagus extremely bent at base, undivided, and with a distinct flagellum (straight at base, divided into a dorsal and a ventral lobe, and without any visible flagellum in Cydistinae ). Additionally, Cenophenginae differ from all remaining New World phengodids (i.e. Mastinocerinae , Pencillophorinae, and Phengodinae ) by having the gular sutures sinuous and widely separated, the posterior tentorial pits widely separated (differently shaped in these subfamilies), and by the prosternum moderately transverse, ~1.3–1.5 times wider than medial length, and in front of coxae ~0.5 times width of procoxal cavity ( Fig. 4 View Figure 4 ; extremely transverse, ~2.5–3.0 times wider than long medially, and in front of coxae ~0.3 or less times width of procoxal cavity in other New World subfamilies).

Composition and distribution: One genus, Cenophengus , with 30 described species from the Nearctic and Neotropical realms. Species are distributed from the south of the USA to Costa Rica, with the highest diversity in Mexico ( Vega-Badillo et al. 2021a).