Pseudastylopsis Dillon 1956

Pseudastylopsis Dillon, 1956 Pseudostylopsis; Dillon, 1956a: 136. Pseudastylopsis Dillon, 1956b: 220. Remarks. Devesa & Vlasak (2023) reported the problematic definition of Pseudastylopsis in the original description and in the redescription by Linsley and Chemsak (1995). In the key to genera of Acanthocinini from North America, Linsley & Chemsak (1995) separated Pseudastylopsis from Leptostylus LeConte, 1852 and Leptostylopsis Dillon, 1956, in the alternative of couplet “17:” “Prothorax with intercoxal process less than half as broad as coxal cavities,” leading to Pseudastylopsis; and “Prothorax with intercoxal process more than half as broad as coxal cavities,” leading to Leptostylus and Leptostylopsis. Nonetheless, in the same work they described P. nelsoni nelsoni from the United States of America and reported the prosternal process as “about half as broad as coxal cavity.” As the width of the prosternal process is very variable in Leptostylus and Leptostylopsis, although it is never noticeably narrow, this feature cannot be used to separate these three genera, even species from the United States of America. For example, Linsley & Chemsak (1995) described the prosternal process in Leptostylopsis argentata (Jacquelin du Val) as “about as broad as coxal cavity,” exactly as in Pseudastylopsis nelsoni nelsoni. Based on the general appearance of other species currently included in Pseudastylopsis, we are provisionally describing a new species in this genus.