The genus Raysymmela Saylor, 1947 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Melolonthinae, Sericini): taxonomy and phylogenetic analysis

Here we revise the taxonomy of the South American genus Raysymmela Saylor, 1947 and perform a phy-logenetic analysis based on 126 morphological characters. We propose one new synonym, Raysymmela pallipes (Blanchard, 1850) (= Symmela boliviensis Moser, 1919 syn. n.), and three new combinations, Raysymmela costaricensis (Moser, 1924) comb. n., Raysymmela seticollis (Moser, 1921) comb. n., and Raysymmela varians (Erichson, 1847) comb. n. Two new species are described: Raysymmela equatorialis sp. n. (Ecuador) and R. erwini sp. n. (Bolivia). Lectotypes of following taxa were designated: Symmela boliviensis Moser, 1919, S. bruchi Moser, 1924, S. costaricensis Moser, 1924, S. curtula Erichson, 1835, S. pallipes Blanchard, 1850, S. seticollis Moser, 1921, and S. varians Erichson, 1847. Species are redescribed and a key to species is given, external morphological features as well as aedeagus are illustrated for all taxa. Distribution maps as well as a key to currently known South American genera of Sericini are provided. From phylogenetic analysis using parsimony, Raysymmela is not recovered as monophyletic.