Lodinus punctulatus (Solier) Kamiński & Lumen & Kanda & Smith, 2022

Kamiński, Marcin Jan, Lumen, Ryan, Kanda, Kojun & Smith, Aaron Dennis, 2022, Phylogenetic status of some unique species representing Blapstinina Mulsant & Rey (Tenebrionidae: Blaptinae: Opatrini), and implications for continued study of the subtribe, Zootaxa 5093 (5), pp. 519-532 : 524-526

Lodinus punctulatus (Solier) , comb. nov.

Blapstinus punctulatus Solier, 1851: 233

= Lodinus nigroaeneus Mulsant and Rey, 1859: 131 (syn. by Gemminger in Gemminger and Harold, 1870)

= Alphitobius punctatus Curtis, 1845: 469 (syn. by Gebien 1938: 405).

Note: While proposing synonymy between Alphitobius punctatus Curtis, 1845 and Blapstinus punctulatus Solier, 1851 , to avoid secondary homonymy with Blapstinus punctatus (Fabricius) , Gebien (1938) rejected Alphitobius punctatus Curtis, 1845 and replaced it with its oldest available synonym— Blapstinus punctulatus Solier, 1851 . According to the regulations of ICZN (1999), particularly art. 59.3, a junior secondary homonym replaced before 1961 is permanently invalid unless the substitute name is not in use and the relevant taxa are no longer considered congeneric. As a result the valid name of the below redescribed species is Lodinus punctulatus (Solier) .

Descriptions of B. punctulatus and L. nigroaeneus do not include holotype designations. As a result, lectotype designations are needed to fix the taxonomic status of these names.

Studied material. Type material: Blapstinus punctulatus : LECTOTYPE (here designated), male ( MNHN): “ Punc \tulatus” reverse side of the same label “ Type \ Solier ”, “ Lodinus \punctulatus\ Chili illegible ”, “ Blapstinus \ punctulatus\ Chili \D. M-?”, „ TYPE ” . PARALECTOTYPE, male: same data as lectotype.

Lodinus nigroaeneus : LECTOTYPE (here designated), male ( MNHN): „nigro-aeneus” reverse side of the same label “ Mulsant type”, “ Lodinus /nigroaeneus/ Chili illegible ”, “ TYPE ” . PARALECTOTYPES, two females: same data as lectotype .

Additional material: male ( PERC): “ ARGENTINA: Cordoba: Reserva Chancani, 350m, 31.3755 S 65.4797 W, 7.iii.2011 DRM 11.007. D. R. Maddison ”; 2 males and female ( MIZ PAS): „Chile Santiago \ Baños Morales \ 19 Mayo 2001 \leg. V. Manuel Diéguez”; 2 males and female ( MIZ PAS): „Argentina Chubut \ Camino a cholila \ 580 MSNM \ 23/ 31 Enero 2000 \ Leg. V. M. Diéguez M.”; male and 2 females ( MIZ PAS): „Chile Melipilla \ Pallocabe 300Mts. \ 9 Sept. 2001 \ leg. V. Manuel Diéguez”; male and female ( MIZ PAS): “Santiago Thilippes”; 27 specimens ( MIZ PAS): „Chile Philippi S”; female ( MNHN): “Brasilien\Nova Teutania\2711’B—52 23t \Fritz Plaumann\ 300– 800m \ 8-XI-1955 ”, “Museum Paris \ Coll. P. Ardoin 1978”

Diagnosis. Newly examined material enables supplementation of available descriptions of this species ( Curtis 1845, Solier 1851, Mulsant and Rey 1859, Aballay et al. 2016) with data on male and female terminalia. Therefore, a redescription is provided below and a new diagnosis is provided to accommodate this species with its new congeners.

The following features place this species within Lodinus ( Marcuzzi 1954, 1982): median lobe of aedeagus widely projecting between parameres; parameres with truncate apex ( Fig. 1 ).

Lodinus punctulatus can be easily distinguished from its congeners by differing pronotal structure ( Marcuzzi 1954): anterior angles rounded, not prominent (pointed and prominent in remaining species); punctures sparsely distributed on disc (>1.0 diameters apart vs. <0.75 in remaining species). Furthermore, L. punctulatus is the only species within the genus which possesses subparallel parameres in their apical portion (slightly narrowing towards apex in L. venezuelensis — Figs 46 and 46 in Marcuzzi 1983; strongly indented in L. araguae — Fig. 3D ). Lastly, as of this redescription, L. punctulatus is the only species of the genus known from south of the equator ( Fig. 4 ).

Redescription. Length 4.9–6.2 mm, width 2.1–2.6 mm. Body ( Fig. 2A ): dull brown to black; dorsal and ventral surfaces matte; ovate-oblong; widest at 2/3 of elytral length; weakly convex in lateral view; evenly covered with fine setae dorsally. Head: Epistoma broadly convex; punctures equal to diameter of an ommatidium (distributed 1– 2 diameters apart); setae equal in length to intervals between punctures. Fronto-epistomal suture slightly marked on sides. Epistoma weakly emarginate. Prothorax: Pronotum narrowing anteriorly, apical angles sharp. Lateral margin slightly rounded; marginated. Basal width slightly narrower than humeri; basal margin slightly bisinuate. Disc sparsely but noticeably covered with setae; finely punctate (punctures 1–3 diameters apart). Lateral sides marginated. Hypomeron dull and rugose; hypomeron impressed on sides. Intercoxal process of prosternum not depressed in lateral view. Scutellar shield: Pentagonal, of equal width and length, finely punctate. Pterothorax: Elytral striae shallow and punctate (1–2 diameters apart). Striae not joining prior humeral angle. Intervals flat, punctate (0.5–1.0 diameters apart), with noticeable microsculpture. Epipleura finely punctate. Metathoracic wings well developed. Metaventrite long, sparsely punctate; sparse setae present. Legs: Protibia apically dilated with lateral projection at apex. Meso and meta tibia straight and dilated apically. Pro- and mesotarsomeres 2 and 3 dilated in males ( Fig. 2B, C ). Abdominal ventrites: Finely punctate, scattered with setae; intercoxal process narrowly rounded; ventrite 5 with posterior margin evenly rounded, not bordered. Aedeagus ( Fig. 1 ): whole tegmen evenly curved in lateral view. Apical part of aedeagus truncate; median lobe opening circular. Female terminalia ( Fig. 3A–C ): Ovipositor with paraprocts slightly longer than coxites. Paraproct does not shield valvifer and other lobes (directed basally). Valvifer wide and short; second lobe elongate; third one semicircular (about 0.5 of height of third one); apical lobe rounded, situated apically, sclerotised at outer and inner edges, inner sclerotisation hook-like, gonostyli on dorsal side, directed inwards. Proctiger covering nearly whole ovipositor. Vagina without sclerites. Spermatheca with narrow duct. Spiculum ventrale short.

Distribution. ARGENTINA, BRASIL, BOLIVIA, CHILE, URUGUAY ( Fig. 4 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogeny of subtribe Blapstinina. Figured topology was recovered in maximum likelihood analysis using IQ- Tree. Ultrafast bootstrap values (1,000 replicates) (integers) and posterior probabilities (20 million generations) acquired in Bayesian analysis (decimals) are displayed in red. The three investigated Blapstinina species are displayed in blue. Male genitalia (1–4) of selected species (dorsal views) are illustrated on the left. Topologies of collapsed clades (‘remaining Opatrini’ & ‘Dendarini + Pedininini + Playtonotini’) are fully consistent with those presented in Lumen et al. (2020).

FIGURE 2. Morphology of studied Blapstinina species. Habitus photographs and diagnostic features. (A–C) Lodinus punctulatus comb. nov., (D–F) Lodinus araguae comb. nov., (G) Blapstinus tibialis, (H, I) Blapstinus grandis. (B) protarsus, (C) mesotarsus, (D) last 5 antennomeres, (I) apical tip of epipleura.

FIGURE 3. Morphology of female and male terminalia of selected Blapstinina species. (A–C) Lodinus punctulatus comb. nov., (D) Lodinus araguae comb. nov., (E, F) Blapstinus tibialis. (A, B, E) ovipositor, (C, F) genital tubes, (D) parameres. Abbreviations: ag—accessory gland, b—hooked baculus of c4, c1–c4—subsequent lobes of coxites, g—gonostylus, sp—sper- matheca, vag—vagina.

FIGURE 4. Distribution of Lodinus.