Psalidognathus rufescens Quentin and Villiers, 1983

Santos-Silva, Antonio & Komiya, Ziro, 2012, Contribution towards the knowledge of Psalidognathus Gray, 1831 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae), Insecta Mundi 2012 (247), pp. 1-28 : 17-19

Psalidognathus rufescens Quentin and Villiers, 1983

( Fig. 25, 26 )

Psalidognathus rufescens Quentin and Villiers, 1983: 446 ; Monné and Giesbert 1994: 16 (checklist); Monné 1995: 59 (cat.); Lackerbeck 1998: 519; Komiya 2003: fig. 9 (male); Monné and Hovore 2005: 21 (checklist); 2006: 20 (checklist); Monné 2006: 90 (cat.).

Redescription. Male ( Fig. 25 ). Integument dark-brown; head, mandibles, scape, blackish; elytra reddish-brown with irregular brown areas (mainly on basal third).

Dorsal surface of head strongly punctate-rugose; pilosity moderately long and sparse between clypeus and posterior edge of eyes, long and abundant between the latter and prothorax. Cephalic carinae starting from inner edge of antennal tubercles, convergent to middle of eyes, then parallel up to end; slightly elevated at convergent area, gradually elevated from middle of eyes to posterior edge of eyes, then moderately abruptly declivous, slightly elevated again, and gradually declivous to the apex. Area between carinae longitudinally sulcate. Area behind upper eye lobes coarsely confluently punctate close to the eyes, gradually finer towards prothorax; area behind lower ocular lobes with asperities close to the eyes (this region gradually narrowed towards inferior edge), and obliquely striate-punctate close to the prothorax (this region gradually wider towards inferior edge); pilosity long and abundant on area confluently punctate and with asperities, short and sparse on area striate-punctate. Distance between upper ocular lobes equal to 0.5 width of one lobe. Distance between lower ocular lobes equal to 0.6 width of one lobe (at level of genal apex). Antennal tubercles close at base, separated by furrow; basal half coarsely, confluently punctate, gradually finer and sparser towards apex. Clypeus vertical, laterally coarsely confluently punctate on base; remaining areas with moderately fine, sparse punctures; pilosity long, moderately abundant laterally. Labrum punctate on centro-basal area, smooth on remaining surface, distinctly narrowed at apex; pilosity long and sparse. Head, behind eyes, with somewhat small lateral tubercle (apex rounded). Genal apex moderately elongated, distinctly acute at apex. Hypostomal sclerite striate-punctate (mainly laterally); pilosity long and moderately abundant. Mandibles about as long as head, coarsely, confluently punctate on basal halves, gradually finer and sparser towards apices (both on dorsal and ventral surface), smooth near inner edge of apical half; apices of both mandibles very broad; basal tooth of apex of left mandible not projected; basal tooth of apex of right mandible acute and distinctly projected; inner margin of mandibles with two large, triangular teeth. Antennae surpass elytral apex about middle of antennomere X. Scape slightly enlarged towards apex; dorsal surface coarsely, abundantly, confluently punctate on basal half, sparser towards apex, that is almost smooth; latero-outer face longitudinally sulcate; ventral face with some asperities, and inner margin elevated; inner face moderately coarsely striate-punctate, mainly on basal half. Antennomere 1.8 times as long as scape. Antennomeres III-VI not flattened dorso-ventrally; inner and outer apex projected and acute (mainly the latter); sensorial area of antennomere III occupying almost entire lateral half.

Prothorax narrow (width without spines about twice the length). Pronotum rugose-punctate; pilosity long, abundant throughout; lateral margins with two very large spines; anterior angle projected in a long spine; posterior angle projected, rounded at apex. Prosternal process with broad, very distinct basal keel. Scutellum with long, abundant hairs. Elytra rugose (coarser on basal third, gradually finer towards apical fourth, and slightly coarser apically); humeri with long spines; sutural apices with short spines; each elytron with three distinct carinae; lateral basal half distinctly explanate. Metasternum and metepisterna finely punctate; pilosity long and very abundant. Ventrites I-III finely, sparse punctate, with smooth areas; ventrite I basally with long, moderately sparse hairs; ventrites II-IV laterally with long hairs; ventrite V with long hairs laterally and apically. Dorsal surface of profemora striate-punctate; dorsal surface of meso- and metafemora finely, sparsely punctate; edges of ventral surface of femora with short spines, mainly on mesofemur. Protibiae slightly enlarged from middle to base of apical fourth; ventral surface abundantly pilose on enlarged area. Apices of metatarsomeres I-III distinctly spinose.

Female ( Fig. 26 ). (Description based on photo of female deposited at the collection of MNHN). Body broad. Mandibles about as long as head. Distance between upper ocular lobes about 1.5 times width of one lobe. Cephalic carinae as in males, but more distance between them, and somewhat convergent beyond eyes. Antennae reach apical fourth of elytra; scape just surpasses posterior edge of eyes; antennomere III about 1.2 times as long as scape. Pronotum as in males. Lateral elytral margins rounded; apex subtruncate; sutural angle without spine; sculpture as in males. Fore tibiae not expanded on inner margin of apical half.

Dimensions in mm (male). Total length (including mandibles), 52.0-60.9; length of prothorax, 4.0-5.0; width of prothorax between the apices of the anterior angles, 14.0-15.3; width of prothorax between the apices of the posterior angles, 9.0-11.0; humeral width, 16.0-18.4; elytral length, 33.0-37.4.

Geographical distribution. Described from Ecuador and known also from Colombia.

Material examined. COLOMBIA, Valle Del Cauca : male, [no date indicated], L. C. Locarno col. ( MZSP) ; Cali (1000 m), male, 10.XII.19745, Leon Denhez col. ( ZKCO) .

Remarks. Psalidognathus rufescens was described by Quentin and Villiers (1983) based on a single male ( Fig. 25 ) (translation): “ Ecuador: Loja (Abbé Gaujon), holotype male.”

Lackerbeck (1998) described the female for the first time and wrote: “Material: 1 [female symbol] (Paratyus [sic] / Allotypus), 58 mm, Colombia, Valle Cosumbo River, Pital R., Big River Calima, 900m, IV.-V.1984, R. MARX, in Coll. LACKERBECK”.

In 1998 the third edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN 1985), was in force. According to the Recommendation 72A of this edition: “The term ‘allotype’ may be used to designate among paratypes a specimen of opposite sex to the holotype. Authors are recommended to avoid using the term ‘allotype’ for specimens other than paratypes ”. Evidently a recommendation is not a law, and so, many authors at that time designated allotypes that did not belong to the type series. Thus, when Lackerbeck (1998) designated a female from his private collection as allotype, he did not violate the Code. However, he violated the Code when he considered this allotype as a paratype. The specimen from Lackerbeck’s Collection is not a type, and does not have any special value.

The males of P. rufescens deposited at MZSP and ZKCO are slimmer than the holotype. The female figured in Lackerbeck (1998) is wider than we expected, after examining the males. However, when compared with the male holotype, the body is not disproportionate, although the elytra is laterally more rounded than females of other species. This is particularly important, because the males of P. rufescens have the elytra with sides more parallel than other species of Psalidognathus .

Quentin and Villiers (1983) recorded (translation): “distance between upper ocular lobes equal to about one third of a lobe seen from above.” However, their Figure 4 shows that this distance is approximately equal to a lobe. Their drawing ( Figure 4 ) does not agree with the holotype ( Fig. 25 ), in which the distance between upper ocular lobes is slightly less than the width of a lobe. Additionally, the apex of the upper ocular lobe is distinctly narrower in the holotype than in Figure 4 . The shape and distance of the upper ocular lobe in Quentin and Villiers (1983) Figure 4 agrees perfectly with the males deposited at MZSP and ZKCO.

Regarding the integument, Quentin and Villiers (1983) wrote (translation): “Entirely reddish, head, antennae and legs darker.” Nevertheless, Lackerbeck (1998) pointed out (translation): “Black, elytra reddish.” The male deposited at ZKCO has the prothorax and legs more reddish than the holotype and the specimen deposited at MZSP, in which they are dark brown. Thus, it appears that the color can be darker or lighter.

Lackerbeck (1998) also wrote (translation): “By the little bulge formed on the vertex and sides of the head can easily be differentiated from all other Psalidognathus , except P. Erythrocerus REICHE, 1840 .” This is not true. Males of P. erythrocerus have a very distinct tubercle on the sides of the head, and females of many species of Psalidognathus have lateral tubercles exactly like those of Lackerbeck’s female (sometimes absent). Regarding the cephalic carinae, they are similar to those of P. thomsoni (male and female), to those of species in the “ friendii ” group, and to those of P. erythrocerus females.

Based on the features observed by us, and comparing the female in Lackerbeck (1998) with another deposited at MNHN ( Fig. 26 ) we conclude that both are really P. rufescens . But it is interesting to note that the female deposited at MNHN has the apical third of the elytral narrower than the females in Lackerbeck (1998).

Figures

Figure 25-30. Dorsal habitus. 25) Psalidognathus rufescens, holotype male. 26) P. rufescens, female. 27) P. cerberus sp. nov., holotype male. 28) P. cerberus sp. nov., paratype female. 29) P. cerberus sp. nov., paratype male. 30) P. cerberus sp. nov., paratype male, head. Photos 25 and 26 by Ivo Jeniš.

Figure 1-7. Psalidognathus thomsoni. 1) Lectotype male, dorsal habitus. 2) Lectotype male, head and pronotum. 3) Lectotype male, partial lateral view. 4) Male, dorsal habitus. 5) Male, head showing cephalic carinae. 6) Female, dorsal habitus. 7) Lectotype, labels. Photos 1, 2, 3, and 7 by Eugenio Nearns.