S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 45/1. (Budapest, 1984)

MARCUZZI a D'AGUILAR). The author is deeply indebted to all the persons who made possible for him to examine all these collections. A reverent thought goes to the memory of Hans KULZER, who helped the author In several instances with advice and loan of materials. Lastly, the Systematics. Several papers have been issued recently on the position of several subfamilies and tribes within the Tenebrionldae, and several taxa have been eliminated from this family. Disregarding BLAISDELL's comparative study of the genital characters, recently some authors have pointed out the importance of larval morphology for phylogenetlc aims (WATT, DOYEN) * to reach an operational approach to species classification proposed by DOYEN and SLOBODCHIKOFF. However, I have not had the possibility to study these papers critically enough nor to try an operational approach, as far as the Antillán Tenebrionids are concerned, so as to take a definite personal position about them. For these reasons I prefer momentarily to follow GEBIEN'

s systematics, far from excluding that in a near future this will prove to be surpassed. I have also followed the position of the different species within a genus admitted by GEBIEN, since I had no valid reason to change it, with an exception for some genera such as Blapstlnus or Dlastollnus

, which have been particular objects of my studies. In this case I have often disposed the species in a geographical order, since speciation has probably been determined by the presence of these taxa in a given island or an insular group, or by the distance of a given island from the mainland (geographical speciation and subspeciation, Rassenkreise, Artenkreise, species in statu nascendi, etc.). I have constantly copied all the synonyms admitted by GEBIEN, which as a rule do not Indicate a "variety" nor a subspecies, of course. As far as the Bibliography is concerned, I have limited myself to all the publications Issued after the publication of GEBIEN* s Katalógus and BLACKWELDER'

s Checklist. From the Bibliography quoted for each genus and species the reader will easily find the old works in which the species previous to GEBIEN'

s and BLACKWELDER'

s catalogues have been described. To demonstrate that this Catalogue was opportune and will probably prove useful to the specialists of this Coleopterous family as well as to some biogeographers dealing with this part of the World, the number of species so far known from at least one of the Caribbean Islands (here included the Bahamas at North, Taboga I. off Panama and Margarita I. off N.E.Venezuela) is 250. Of these, only 99 are present in LENG'

s list of West Indies species, 143 in both GEBIEN'

s and BLACKWELDER'

s catalogues, what means little more than the half.**Useless to say that further researches in the mountainous, humid islands, particularly belonging to the Greater Antilles, would prove that the real number of existing species is more elevated. Note. - It is a pleasure for me to thank Dr. Zoltán KASZAB for having accepted this work for the publication in Folia entomologica hungarica and for all the suggestions and help he has given me since many years, first of all during my stay in Budapest for the examination of the huge collections of Tenebrionids of this Museum and study of some materials. I think it is not Inconvenient to mention here the help I have had from my wife, Elvira PIAZZOLLA, in the correction and transcription of the original manuscript. The map of Caribbean islands is due to Mr.Renzo MAZZARO, technician of the Depant in which this work has been carried out. TE NT YRIIN AE EPITRAGINI EPITRAGUS Latreille, 1802 LATREILLE: Hist.nat.crust.ins. 1802, 1804. - LAPORTE: Hist.nat. 2, 1840: 214. - LACORDAIRE: * A rather old work by MARCUZZI & RAMPAZZO has been often quoted for a right Interpretation of systematics of Coniontlnl and Coellni. More recently, the author has published a paper on the larvae of several Caribbean species (in coll. with C. CRAVERA). At present the male and the female copulatory organs and the mouth parts of many Caribbean species are being studied by some pupils of the author, so that some OTU' s will be possibly recognized. **Of course the quotation by GEBIEN* s or BLACKWELDER'

s Catalogue does not mean necessarily that the species has been reported from the Antilles, since it could have been quoted also from some near part of the Continent. Only LENG'

s Catalogue is limited to the Antillán species.