Plastocerus thoracicus, Fleutiaux, 1918

Qiu, Lu, Ruan, Yongying, Huang, Zhengzhong, Wei, Wei & Kundrata, Robin, 2023, Fig. 1 in Rostricephalus vitalisi Fleutiaux, 1918 (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Lissominae) Confirmed from Laos, with Description of its Male Pregenital Segments and Genitalia, The Coleopterists Bulletin 77 (4), pp. 650-654 : 652

PLASTOCERUS THORACICUS Fleutiaux, 1918

( Figs. 1–3 )

New Material Examined. 1 male (IZCAS, Fig. 1B ), Jingangtai, SE of Shangcheng County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, 26.VI.2006, Ye Liu leg.; 1 male (IZCAS, Fig. 1A ), Mt. Jiulianshan, Longnan City, Jiangxi Province, 8.VI.1975, You-Wei Zhang leg.; 1 male (IZCAS), Ma’anshan Forest Park, Hong Kong, 31.V.2017, collector unknown.

A male specimen was photographed by Wei Wei, with the following information: Xinjiang Village, Gongping Township, Lingchuan County, Guilin City, Guangxi Province. 3.VII.2019, 15:05pm ( Fig. 3B ).

Measurements. Body length 7.2–8.0 mm (within the range for this species reported by Hájek et al. 2020); body width 2.3–2.6 mm. Pronotum length 1.4–1.5 mm; pronotum width 1.6–1.7 mm.

Bionomics. Little is known about this species. The specimen from Hong Kong was collected using a sweep net. The specimen from Guangxi, which was photographed in the field, was found on a leaf of Camellia oleifera C. Abel. ( Theaceae ) ( Fig. 3B ). According to Hájek et al. (2020) and the collecting data available for our study, this species mainly occurs from late May to early July.

Distribution. VIEtNAm: HOA BINh, TUyêN QUANG, Vính Phúc; China: Guangxi, Yunnan, Henan (new record), Jiangxi (new record), Hong Kong (new record) ( Fig. 3A ).

Remarks. Hájek et al. (2020) examined a specimen of this species from “Kwangsi [=Guangxi], Hsiangshien”. The locality name “Hsiangshien” should be “Xiangxian”, which is an old name of Xiangzhou County in Laibin City of Guangxi.

Figures

Fig. 1. Dorsal habitus of male Plastocerus thoracicus from China.A) Specimen from Jiulianshan, Jiangxi, B) Specimen from Xinyang, Henan. Scale bar: 2.0 mm.

Fig. 2. Morphology of male Plastocerus thoracicus from China. A–D) Specimen from Jiulianshan, Jiangxi, E–H) Specimen from Xinyang, Henan.A, E) Pronotum, dorsal view, B, F) Abdominal sternite IX, ventral view, C, G) Abdominal tergites IX–X, dorsal view, D, H) Aedeagus, dorsal view. Scale bar: 1.0 mm for all.

Fig. 3. Plastocerus thoracicus. A) Distribution map, B) Live specimen, Lingchuan County, Guilin City, Guangxi Province, China (photograph by Wei Wei).