Search

Two new species of the genus Paragus Latreille, 1804 are described from the Republic of South Africa: Paragus longipilus Tot, Vujić et Radenković sp. nov. and Paragus megacercus Tot, Vujić et Radenković sp. nov. These new species belong to the subgenus Pandasyopthalmus Stuckenberg, 1954a. Paragus longipilus sp. nov. is a member of the P. jozanus group, whereas Paragus megacercus speng. nov. belongs to the P. tibialis group. The taxonomic status of Paragus chalybeatus Hull, 1964 is revised and proposed as synonym of Paragus punctatus Hull, 1949. Additionally, an identification key to males of the South African species of Paragus is provided. Results of the present study confirm a significant level of endemism of Paragus in the Afrotropical Region (12 out of 29).

In this study, we investigated 3,086 adult specimens (974 females and 2,112 males) of the genus Paragus collected in the period 1950-2017 and deposited in the collections of the Department of Biology and Ecology, University of Novi Sad (FSUNS). All four subgenera of Paragus are present in the FSUNS collection. We provide data on 59 species, most of which belong to the subgenus Paragus (37), followed by Pandasyopthalmus (16), Serratoparagus (5) and Afroparagus (1). We conclude that some taxa of this genus require revision because of unresolved taxonomic problems.