Diplostix vicaria ( Cooman, 1935 )

Zhang, Ye-Jun & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2007, Taxonomy of the tribe Paromalini Reitter (Coleoptera: Histeridae, Dendrophilinae) from China, Zootaxa 1544, pp. 1-40 : 8-9

Diplostix vicaria ( Cooman, 1935) , new for China

(Figs. 15–27)

Cooman, 1935: 221 (Type locality: Vietnam; orig. comb.: Carcinops vicaria ); Mazur, 1984: 131 ( Diplostix ); 1997: 179 (catalogue).

Material examined. CHINA: Yunnan: 1 male, 1 female, Simao, 1982.VIII, Shengfang Zhang coll.

Remarks. Cooman (1935) described this species from Vietnam and differentiated it from D. karenensis ( Lewis, 1892b) described from Burma, mainly based on the difference in shape of the mesoventral marginal stria. According to Cooman (1935), in D. vicaria this stria is not parallel to the anterior margin of mesoventrite and somehow angulate at middle, while in D. karenensis it is parallel to the anterior margin. However, according to Dr. Pierpaolo Vienna (personal communication), this character was misinterpreted by Cooman; as a matter of fact, in the type specimens of D. vicaria the mesoventral marginal stria is parallel to the anterior margin. Therefore, D. vicaria and D. karenensis are possible synonyms. Unfortunately, this problem is complicated by the fact that the only type of D. karenensis is lost ( Cooman 1935; personal communication with Dr. Fabio Penati and Dr. Pierpaolo Vienna). Here, we identified the specimens from Yunnan, South China, as D. vicaria , because they match exactly the description by Cooman (1935), except in the shape of the mesoventral marginal stria.

Distribution. China (Yunnan); Vietnam.

FIGURES 15–27. Diplostix vicaria (Cooman) 15. Head, frontal view; 16. Pronotum and elytra; 17. Propygidium and pygidium; 18. Prosternum, meso- and metaventrite, and the first visible abdominal sternum; 19. Protibia, dorsal view; 20–21. Aedeagus, lateral and dorsal views;.22. Apex of aedeagus, ventral view; 23–24. Male 8th tergite, dorsal and lateral views; 25–26. Male 9th and 10th tergites, lateral and dorsal views; 27. Male 9th sternum, ventral view. Scale bars: 16, 18 = 0.5 mm; 15, 17, 19–27 = 0.25 mm.