A New Genus of Ciidae Encompassing the <i>Ceracis furcifer</i> Species Group (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea)

Pycnocis Pecci‐Maddalena, Souza‐Gonçalves &amp; Lopes‐Andrade gen. nov. (Ciinae: Ciini) is described to accommodate the four valid species currently placed in the Ceracis furcifer species group. These species are removed from Ceracis Mellié, 1849, mainly because of their relatively broad prosternal process, the apically enlarged lobes of the tegmen, and the transversely oriented basal baculum of the gonocoxites, in contrast with the sublaminate or laminate prosternal process, the acute or narrowly rounded tegminal lobes, and the obliquely oriented basal baculum observed in Ceracis . We provide an identification key to males of Pycnocis and new distributional records of Pycnocis cornifer (Mellié, 1849) comb. nov. from the Northeast Region of Brazil. We also discuss the use of basidiomes of Fabisporus as host fungi by ciids, the geographic distribution of Pycnocis species, and the composition of Ceracis after the most recent taxonomic works on the genus, including the present work.