Proteros, Kazantsev, Sergey V., 2004

Kazantsev, Sergey V., 2004, Phylogeny of the tribe Erotini (Coleoptera, Lycidae), with descriptions of new taxa, Zootaxa 496, pp. 1-48 : 18-19

Proteros gen. n. ( Figs. 25–30 )

Type species: Proteros sempiternus sp. n.

Description

Head transverse, slightly narrowed behind eyes. Plane of frons making right angle with vertex. Labrum divided into a pair of feebly sclerotized setose processes ( Fig. 25 ). Eyes relatively small, spherical. Mandibles slender, evenly rounded, conspicuously bent inward, very narrow and glabrous distally and densely pubescent basally ( Fig. 25 ). Maxillary palps slender, 4­segmented, with apical palpomere flattened, slightly narrowed and glabrous at apex. Labial palpi 3­segmented, slender, pointed and glabrous at apex. Antennal prominence conspicuous, antennal sockets approximate. Antennae 11­segmented, slightly flattened, antennomeres parallel­sided. Antennomere 3 thrice as long and twice as wide as antennomere 2, antennomeres 2 and 3 together about two thirds length of antennomere 4. Antennal surface tuberculate. Antennal pubescence decumbent. Pronotum distinctly narrower than elytra, transverse, convex anteriorly, widely margined, with moderately pronounced hind angles and conspicuous oval median cell and lateral carinae; median cell distinctly wider in anterior half. Prosternum narrow, Y­shaped. Thoracic spiracles not protruding laterally beyond coxal limits. Scutellum relatively small, parallel­sided and deeply emarginate at apex. Elytra with four fine equally developed primary costae, interstices with single row of transverse cells, except basally, with traces of double rows in second, third and fifth interstice, and apically, with traces of double rows in third second, fourth and fifth interstices; elytral pubescence distributed along costae. Metathoracic wing with separate C and RA veins, Sc hardly touching RA and joining C at about its middle ( Fig. 8 ). Mesocoxae separated; metacoxae with conspicuous trochantinal suture and inconspicuous longitudinal excavation to receive retracted femora. Trochanters only slightly longer than wide, connected to femora apically; tibiae subequal in length to femora, but narrower, tibiae with a pair of similar short, almost straight apical spurs; tarsomeres 3 and 4 slightly widened, tarsomere 1 with plantar pad occupying about apical half; all claws simple. Ultimate ventrite with spiculum gastrale ( Fig. 26 ); penultimate tergite with long proximal processes ( Fig. 27 ). Abdominal spiracles located dorsally at the very edge of sternites. Aedeagus with elongate laterally dentate median lobe of the aedeagus supplied with long perpendicular needle­like thorns and ventrally weakly sclerotized phallobase ( Fig. 28–30 ).

Diagnosis and comments

Proteros gen. n. is related and is externally similar to Pyrotes gen. n., differing by the divided labrum, different type of the elytral pubescence, short trochanters and the elongate median piece of the aedeagus with dentate lateral edges ( Figs. 28–30 ). The structure of the aedeagus of Proteros somewhat resembles that of Scarelus Waterhouse (Ateliinae) ( Kazantsev, 1992a), and is distinctly different from most other known erotines. A similar type of the male external genitalia in the Erotinae is reported only in the genus Paralopheros ( Kazantsev, 1993), which, given that Proteros seems to possess certain primitive features, may mean that the male copulatory organs of Paralopheros are in the plesiomorphic condition.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature about Proteros gen. n. is its divided labrum, which has not been reported in any species of adult Coleoptera (Crowson, 1981) , and probably is not known in any adult Hexapoda in general. At the same time studies on the prekatatrepsis embryo of Calopteron sp. ( Cicero, 1994) indicate that at the embryonic stage the lycids do have the labrum divided into two separate lobes, which may mean that this character in Proteros is in the primitive condition. The mandibular structure of Platerodrilus larvae ( Kazantsev, 2002), where one of the three separate parts of each "mandible" is quite possibly homologous with the labral lobes, gives another argument in support of this assumption.

Due to the structure of the phallobase, which is weakly sclerotized ventrally, Proteros gen. n. is tentatively placed in the Taphini, and this is the first record of a taphine and of an erotine in general from Australia other than Queensland. It is noteworthy that the first endemic genus of Erotinae from South East Australia appears to be one of the most archaic representatives of the subfamily.

Etymology

The name is derived from "proto" for "ancestor of" and the genus name Eros alluding to the fact that the new genus possibly has features characteristic of the ancestors of the contemporary erotines.

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 30. Details of Proteros sempiternus gen n., sp. n., male. 25 — head, anteriorly; 26 — ultimate sternite; 27 — ultimate tergites; 28 — aedeagus, dorsally; 29 — same, laterally; 30 — same, ventrally.

FIGURES 8 – 10. Hind wing. 8 — Proteros sempiternus gen. n., sp. n.; 9 — Flagrax auberti (Bourgeois); 10 — Aferos sp.