Sphindidae is a diminutive, cryptic family of myxomycophagous (slime mold feeding) beetles. Found in all major biogeographic regions of the world, the family is composed of fifty-eight species divided among nine genera. Aspidiphorus Zeigler in DeJean (1821) is one of the two largest, with seventeen described species. Despite their small size (1.5-2.0 mm), there is a wealth of morphological diversity found within Aspidiphorus. Specimens borrowed from museums around the world yielded approximately 102 new species, which, when described, will more than triple the size of the genus. Of those undesecribed species, fourteen seem to form a monophyletic group; this group is the focus of this study. The purpose of this investigation is to provide a thorough taxonomic treatment of the Aspidiphorus uenoi species group, including a morphological study, descriptions of new species, and summaries of biological and distributional information.
Keywords: Sphindidae, morphology
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