Macrosiagon biguttata ( Blanchard, 1846 )

Batelka, Jan, 2011, Contribution to the synonymies, distributions, and bionomics of the Old World species of Macrosiagon (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 51 (2), pp. 587-626 : 595-596

Macrosiagon biguttata ( Blanchard, 1846)

( Figs. 13–15 )

Rhipiphorus bi-guttatus Blanchard, 1846: plate 12. Type locality: [ Indonesia, Maluku], Ternate. Rhipiphorus bi-guttatus Blanchard, 1853: 187, syn. nov. Type locality: [ Indonesia, Maluku], Ternate, Banda Is. Macrosiagon biguttatum: CSIKI (1913) : 10 (new combination).

Type material examined. SYNTYPE: 1 ex. (antennae are missing) ( MNHN), ‘174 / 41 [hw, pink round label] // Rhipiphorus / biguttatus Bl. [Blanchard’s hw, ( Fig. 13 )]’.

Additional material examined. AUSTRALIA: QUEENSLAND: 1 J 5 ♀♀ ( BMNH): ‘ Kuranda / N. Queensland / G. E. Bryant. [p] / F.P. D. 1904 [hw] // G. Bryant Coll. / 1919 – 147 [p] ’; 1 ex. ( MNHN – general coll.), ‘ Museum Paris / Australie orien / V. Mueller 2 96 [1896] [p] ’; 1 ♀ ( MNHN – general coll.), ‘ Queensland / F. P. Dodd [p] ’; 1 ♀ ( MNHN – general coll.), ‘ Myola / Sep. – 92 [hw] // Dawson distr. / (Bernard. Coll.) [p] ’; 1 J 1 ♀ ( Figs. 14–15 ) ( NHRS): ‘ Austr. Qld. / Cairns / I. 1978 [hw, pencil] // 1651 / KAP + [p] ’. INDONESIA: MALUKU: 2 ♀♀ ( JBCP, JHCP), ‘ Indonesia / Bacan Is. centr. / Labuha region / Makian env. 150 m / St. Jákl leg. [p] ’; 1 ♀ ( NMPC), ‘ Maluku, Seram / Solea 12 km SE Wabai / 17.1.- 6.2.1997 / S. Bílý leg. [p] ’; 1 ♀ ( MNHN – general coll.), ‘ Moluques / Halmaheira / Coll. Bruin 1877 [p] ’; 1J ( MNHN – general coll.), ‘ Moluques / Lorquin [hw] // Ex Musaeo / Mniszech [p] ’. PAPUA: 1 ♀ ( NHMB), ‘NEW GUINEA centr. / Baliem Tal – 1700 m / MARCH 1992 / leg. Jiří KOLIBÁČ [p]’. NEW GUINEA: 2 ♀♀ ( BMNH), ‘ New Guinea [p] / 4-02 [1902] Ms. C. [hw] // New Guinea / ex. H.J. Carter. / 1920 – 444 [p] ’; 1 ex. ( ZMHB), ‘29212 [p] // Nov. Guin. M. Vrat. [= Museum Vratislav, collected before 1867, hw] ’. PHILIPPINES: LUZON: 1 J ( ZMHB), ‘ Mt. Banahao / ii. 1914, Boettcher // Luzon [p] ’.

Variability. Color variations include black specimens, with one or two brown, poorly visible spots on each elytron, or those with the elytra entirely black (Bacan Isl. and Seram Isl.). However, some specimens from New Guinea are mostly ferrugineous-brown with only a few irregular black markings. Macrosiagon biguttata differs from all other Oriental species of Macrosiagon bifasciata species group by the following combination of characters: medial lobe of pronotal disc with shallow elevation without cavity, elytra strongly acute apically, MT 2 robust, shortened, flattened dorsally.

Remarks. The publication date of Blanchard’s ‘Voyage au Pôle Sud’ has been traditionally misinterpreted. Plates of the work were published earlier than the text; for the full explanation see CLARK & CROSNIER (2000). The plate ‘Insectes coléoptères 12’ which contains a binominally named figure of Rhipiphorus biguttatus was published in 1846 and must be regarded as a valid description by indication. Rhipiphorus biguttatus Blanchard, 1853 thus must be considered a junior homonym and synonym of R. biguttatus Blanchard, 1846 .

Type of M. biguttata has been found in a red box labeled ‘ Types de Bosc / Mordell. / Rhipiph.’ together with types of another two species depicted on the same plate: Pelecotoides murinus Blanchard, 1846 (= 1853) ( Ripiphoridae ) and Mordella plurinotata Blanchard, 1846 (= 1853) ( Mordellidae ).

Specimens from Sulawesi, Australia and Solomon Islands identified by BATELKA & HOEHN (2007) as Macrosiagon punctulaticeps (Blackburn, 1899) (based on Duffy’s incorrect determination of one specimen from Solomon Islands) were misidentified. The specimens are not related to either the Australian M. punctulaticeps or to M. tricolor species groups (which contain species with convex elytra and with absence of a short elevated process at the apex of the medial lobe of pronotal disc (Batelka & Turco, unpubl. data)), but they do all belong to M. biguttata .

Distribution. Australasian species. Australia (Queensland), Indonesia (Sulawesi, Moluccas), New Guinea, Philippines and Solomon Islands. The species is recorded here for the first time from all these areas except the Ternate island (type locality).

Figures

Figs 8–15. 8–11 – Macrosiagon bequaerti Pic, 1913. (8 – male from Zambia; 9 – male from Guinea; 10–11 – holotype with labels). 12 – Macrosiagon cf. bequaerti Pic, 1913, India. 13–15 – Macrosiagon biguttata (Blanchard, 1846) (13 – syntype label; 14 – male, Australia, Cairns; 15 – female, Australia, Cairns).