Leptostylus scudderi Wickham 1914

Leptostylus scudderi Wickham, 1914 (Fig. 1) Leptostylus scudderi Wickham, 1914: 469. Original description: “Form moderately elongated. Head with prominent jaws. Antennae slender, about one and three times the length of the body, first joint long, subcylindrical, second short, third barely longer than the first, fourth subequal to the third, fifth, and sixth a little shorter, the remainder not distinctly separable. There is no visible antennal vestiture. Prothorax nearly twice as broad as long, sides arcuate with no defined spine nor tubercle. Elytra long, four and a half times the prothoracic length, strongly tapering from about the middle to the apices which are moderately sharply pointed but unarmed. Legs lacking except one which probably belongs to the middle pair; this is of moderate length and stoutness, tarsal joints ill defined. Length, from front of head to tip of abdomen, 11.35 mm. Described from a single specimen. Type.—No. 2,598 M. C. Z. Florissant, Col. (No. 929 S. H. Scudder Col.). The facies of this insect are entirely that of a Leptostylus [sic, Leptostylus], with which genus it agrees in the antennal and thoracic structures. The long antennae are in accord with those of L. biustus [currently in Styloleptus Dillon, 1956] and L. terraecolor [currently in Leptostylopsis Dillon, 1956]. The coloration seems to have been a mottling, arranged in irregular transverse bands, the best marked of which are in the form of two rather broad postmedian fasciae. It will be noted that the thoracic sides, as preserved, are not symmetrical, the left one showing about the same shape as in L. biustus, while the other is simply rounded.” Remarks. The original description and drawing (Fig. 1) do not allow considering L. scudderi as belonging to Leptostylus, Leptostylopsis, or Styloleptus. This is because currently, there are no species in these three genera with the apex of the elytra uniformly acute and divergent from apical fifth. The drawing in the original description shows a single femur on the right side and it is not clavate, while the femora are pedunculate-clavate in these genera. However, photographs of the holotype (MCZBASE 2024) show that the holotype has two femora, one on each side, and that in the left side appears to be clavate. Additionally, the original description does not inform if there are small tubercles on the elytra, which are present in the three genera mentioned by Wickham (1914). It is not possible to see if the tubercles are or are not present in the holotype. Lateral tubercles of the prothorax rounded as in L. scudderi are not rare in Acanthocinini. Therefore, we are transferring L. scudderi to incertae sedis in Acanthocinini since we have not been able to find a reliable feature that allows us to be certain about the genus of this species.