Hippeutister

There are six species in this myrmecophilous genus of Histeridae. Occur in the nests of Solenopsis.

Hippeutister is easily recognizable among Hetaeriinae, and almost undoubtedly monophyletic. It is most easily recognized by the broad, weakly convex prosternum with strongly divergent carinal striae, its deeply, triangularly emarginate prosternal keel, and by the correspondingly broad mesosternal projection (Fig. 6). A number of other features are more unusual among neotropical Hetaeriinae, and are also useful in recognizing members of Hippeutister. They have a cylindrical, obliquely truncate antennal club (Fig. 3B), the frons is longitudinally depressed along inner edge of eye, resulting in a distinct ocular carina (Fig. 7), the prosternum has an extra, third pair of carinal striae (Fig. 6), the pronotum exhibits oblique depressions extending forward from posterior corners (Figs. 4, 5), the elytra lack striae (though they may be weakly marked by punctures or setae), and the dorsum of the elytra is margined by a strong epipleural carina (Figs. 4, 8). It is most similar to members of the genus Poneralister Bruch, which are identical in characters of the frontal carinae. The pro- and mesosternal characters of Hippeutister separate the two genera easily.

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List of Hippeutister and their Host Ants

Genus and species	Author and Year	Ant Host	Distribution	Notes
Hippeutister amabilis	Wenzel, 1938	Solenopsis xyloni	Mexico
Hippeutister californicus	Caterino & Tishechken, 2008	Solenopsis amblychila	California
Hippeutister castaneus	Lewis, 1891	ants	Belize, Mexico
Hippeutister manicatus	Lewis, 1891	Solenopsis geminata	Costa Rica, Mexico
Hippeutister plaumanni	Reichensperger, 1936	Solenopsis saevissima	Brazil
Hippeutister solisi	Caterino & Tishechken, 2008	ants	Costa Rica

REFERENCES

• Caterino, Michael S., and Alexey K. Tishechkin. A review of Hippeutister Reichensperger with new species from California and Costa Rica (Coleoptera: Histeridae: Hetaeriinae). Zootaxa, no. 1895. (2008).

• Lewis, G. (1891) On new species of Histeridae. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, (6) 8.

• Reichensperger, A. (1935) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Myrmekophilenfauna Brasiliens und Costa Ricas III (Col. Staphyl. Hist.). Arbeiten über Morphologische und Taxonomische Entomologie aus Berlin-Dahlem, 2 (3).

• Reichensperger, A. (1936) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Myrmecophilen- und Termitophilenfauna Brasiliens und Costa Ricas. IV (Col. Hist. Staphyl. Pselaph.). Revista de Entomologia, 6 (2).

• Wenzel, R.L. (1938) New and little known Neotropical Hetaeriomorphini (Col. Histeridae). Revista de Entomologia, 9.