Up to now, the Chilean Elateridae includes 52 genera and 140 species (Arias-Bohart and Elgueta 2012). The canopy beetle faunas of Nothofagus spp., and Araucarian forests show at least 32 yet undescribed Elateridae taxa (Arias et al. 2008). From those representing unknown Elateridae collected by fogging I found several specimens of a new Agrypnini.

This study is based on the specimens from multiple collecting trips of the Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California, Berkeley (led by E. T. Arias-Bohart) and private Chilean collections. The type specimens and loan material are indicated in the text. Acronysms of institutions and private collections follow Arnett et al. (1993).

ANIC Australian Insect Collection, Canberra, Australia

ETA Elizabeth Arias-Bohart, (private collection), Berkeley, California, USA

FMNH Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA

IRScNB Collections Nationales Belges d’Insectes et d’Arachnides, Institut royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium

MNHN Museum National d’Histoire naturelle, Paris France

JEB Juan Enrique Barriga Tuñon, (private collection), Curicó, Chile

MNNC Colección Nacional de Insectos, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago, Chile

SRC Sergio Riese, (private collection), Genova, Italy

Specimens from which the genitalia were removed were first relaxed in 10% KOH solution over 1 to 3 days.

For examination of the male genitalia, the last abdominal segments were removed and placed in water with a few drops of soap in a Petri dish and left overnight. Then genitalia were subsequently extracted and placed into a small vial with 90% alcohol, or glued on a card, or on a vial, and pinned under the specimen. Methods outlined by Becker (1958) were followed for examination of the female genitalia. After examination, female genitalia were placed in a small vial with glycerin and pinned under the specimen.

Measurements. Following measurements were made with the aid of a calibrated ocular micrometer as follows: total body length from the frontal margin to elytral apex; pronotal length and maximum width of the pronotum, when both sides are in focus, and elytral length and maximum width of the elytra, when both sides are in focus.

Terminology. Terms for adult morphology follows Platia (1994) and Calder (1996). Wing vein nomenclature follows that of Dolin (1975), Kukalová-Peck and Lawrence (1993, 2004).

Label Information. Places and names of the material studied are from the original spellings from recorded specimen labels. The following symbols are used in the recorded label information as follows:

/ indicating line separation within label, // indicating label separation. Juan Enrique Barriga’s collection labels include the following URL http://www.coleoptera-neotropical.org, which I have excluded from the label information.

Drawings were made using a camera lucida on a Leica MZ7 dissecting scope. Type material has been databased with a unique number indicated on the label information consisting of the acronym EMEC and the identification number. For example, the holotype of Carlota coigue sp. n., has the unique number EMEC10005989 followed by the repository in brackets. Type information of the described material is available online at essigdb.berkeley.edu.

The subfamily Agrypninae is considered one the most ancient subfamilies in Elateridae (Gurjeva 1969, Dolin 1978). However, even though several workers have treated this subfamily, its placement within the family is still insufficiently settled since most of the characters used to establish genus-level taxa in more advanced subfamilies of Elateridae show high variability within the Agrypninae at both the generic and specific level (Prosvirov and Savitsky 2011).

Hayek (1973) studied the characters to separate the genera of Agrypninae based on the structure of the middle coxal cavity, and was followed by Nakane and Kishii (1956) who also included the size and shape of the second and third antennal segment. Later, Gurjeva (1974) demonstrated the importance of the characters of the prothorax and metathorax, as well as those characters found on the bursa copulatrix as important in establishing natural supraspecific and suprageneric groups. Also, Gurjeva (1974) indicated that the rearward extent of the lateral lobes of the mesosterinite was a subfamily character. I also found important the shape of the lateral lobes of the mesosternite, the shape and depth of the groove of the mesothoracic cavity important.

In Chile the tribe Agrypnini has 4 genera Acrocryptus Candèze, 1874, Candanius Hayek, 1874, Dilobitarsus Latreille, 1874, and Lacon Laporte, 1838 distributed in 8 species as follows: Acrocryptus ater (Philippi, 1873), Candanius gracillimus (Candèze, 1889), Dilobitarsus crux (Philippi & Philippi, 1860), Dilobitarsus laconoides (Fleutiaux, 1907), Dilobitarsus sulcicollis (Solier, 1851), Dilobitarsus vitticollis (Fairmaire & Germain, 1860), Lacon chilensis (Solier, 1851) and Lacon fairmairei (Candèze, 1881).

Carlota appears to be closely related to the genus Candanius because they share the following characters: short antennal grooves, not angulate articulate surfaces of mesososternite (Fig. 11, white arrow). Mesocoxal distances more than four times the mesocoxal diameter, and wing vein MP₃₊₄, curves towards major vein MP₁₊₂, without branching in two short veins (Figs 16, 17).

Carlota differs from Candanius by the following (contrasting characters for Candanius in parentheses): posterior prosternal lobe truncate (Fig. 5) (posterior prosternal lobe curved Fig. 4), posterior region of mesosternum pointed (between mesocoxae Fig. 11) (posterior region of mesosternum excavate (between mesocoxae) Fig. 10), wing with two elongate plates (Fig. 17) (wing with two short plates, Fig. 16), prosternal spine straight (prosternal spine follows procoxae), bursa copulatrix with a sclerotised structure about 0.37 times the bursa copulatrix diameter, (Fig. 21) (bursa copulatrix with a sclerotised structure about 0.68 times the bursa copulatrix diameter, Fig. 20).

Carlota differs from Acrocryptus by the following (contrasting characters for Acrocryptus in parentheses): short antennal grooves not well developed for the reception of the antennae (Fig. 5) (long antennal grooves for the reception of the antennae extending beyond the anterior half of the prosternopleural suture, Fig. 2), lacks grooves on propleura, metasternum and abdominal sternite for anterior, middles, and hind tarsomeres (posses grooves on propleura, metasternum and abdominal sternite for anterior, middles, and hind tarsomeres, Fig. 8), third and fourth tarsal segments without lobes (third and fourth tarsal segments with lobes).

Carlota differs from Dilobitarsus by the following (contrasting characters for Dilobitarsus in parentheses): short antennal grooves not extending beyond the anterior half of the prosternopleural suture, (Fig. 5) (antennal grooves extending beyond the anterior half of the prosternopleural suture, Fig. 6), mesosternal cavity sides anterior half region not parallel, (Fig. 11) (mesosternal cavity sides anterior half region parallel, (Fig. 12), third and fourth tarsal segments without lobes (third and fourth tarsal segments with lobes), wing R cell less than 2 times its width, (Fig. 17) (wing R cell more than 4 times its width, Fig. 18).

Carlota differs from Lacon by the following (contrasting characters for Lacon in parentheses): short antennal grooves not extending beyond the anterior half of the prosternopleural suture, (Fig. 5) (antennal grooves extending beyond the anterior half of the prosternopleural suture, Fig. 7), mesocoxal distance more than 4 times mesocoxal diameter, (Fig. 11) (mesocoxal distance less than 3 times mesocoxal diameter, Fig. 13), anterior region of mesosternum lacking a small notch, (Fig. 11) (anterior region of mesosternum with a small notch, Fig. 13), articulate lobes of mesosternum not angulate, (Fig. 11, white arrow) (articulate lobes of mesosternum angulate, Fig. 13).

Carlota most closely approaches the genus Agrypnus (studied Agrypnus sp. from Australia) which does not occur in Chile. It differs from Agrypnus by the following (contrasting characters for Agrypnus in parantheses): short antennal grooves, not extending beyond anterior half of the prosternopleural suture, (Fig. 5) (deep antennal grooves extending beyond anterior half of the prosternopleural suture, Fig. 3), anterior region of mesosternum not notched, (Fig. 11) (anterior region of mesosternum notched, Fig. 9), mesosternal cavity length less than 3 times its width, (Fig. 11) (mesosternal cavity length more than 3 times its width, Fig. 9), mesosternal cavity sides not parallel, (Fig. 11) (mesosternal cavity sides parallel, Fig. 9).

Based of the appearance of the prothorax, Hayek (1973) concluded that the retention of Lacon and Dilobitarsus could not be justified. However, I consider these two genera valid based on the following: Dilobitarsus differs from Lacon by the following (contrasting characters for Lacon in parentheses): walls of anterior half of the mesosternal cavity sides mostly parallel (walls of anterior half of the mesosternal cavity sides divergent), posterior region of the mesosternal cavity subquadrate, (Fig. 12) (posterior region of the mesosternal cavity V-shaped, Fig. 13), tarsomeres with lobes (tarsomeres without lobes), bursa copulatrix subglobular (bursa copulatrix globular), sclerotised structure of bursa copulatrix about 0.4-0.5 times the diameter of bursa copulatrix, (Fig. 22) (sclerotised structure of bursa copulatrix about 0.3 times the diameter of bursa copulatrix, Fig. 23).

Discovery of the larvae of the above genera will likely help clarify the systematic position of the tribe Agrypnini and its members.