Molecular phylogeny and classification of Lyropaeini (Coleoptera: Lycidae) with description of larvae and new species of Lyropaeus

The generic classification of Lyropaeini is revised on the basis of molecular phylogeny. Two lineages mark the basal split of Lyropaeus Waterhouse, 1878: the Indian-Sri Lankan-Vietnamese clade (subgenus Lyropaeus s. str.) and the East Oriental clade (subgenus Lyroneces Kazantsev, 1998). Lyroneces is demoted to a subgenus of Lyropaeus due to the absence of reliable morphological characters. Lyropaeus bicolor Pic, 1911 (Java), L. binotatus Pic, 1926 (Java), L. longipennis Pic, 1911 (Java), L. philippinensis Kleine, 1926 (Philippines), L. ritsemae Gorham, 1882 (Sumatra), and L. waterhousei Gorham, 1882 (Sumatra) are placed in the subgenus Lyroneces Kazantsev, 1998. Paralycus Medvedev & Kazantsev, 1992 is a junior homonym of Paralycus Womersley, 1944 (Acari). The larvae of three Lyropaeus species are described and compared with neotenic larvae of Platerodrilus Pic, 1921. The independent origins of large-bodied neotenic larvae are hypothesized in Lyropaeus and Platerodrilus and the molecular evidence is supported by the differences in morphology. Two new Lyropaeus species are described: Lyropaeus (s. str.) kejvali, new species (India: Kerala), and L. (s. str.) nepalensis, new species (Nepal).