Lacon caeruleus Schimmel, 1998

Prosvirov, Alexander S., 2016, New and little-known species of the genus Lacon Laporte, 1838 (Coleoptera: Elateridae) of Afghanistan and adjacent countries, Zootaxa 4168 (2), pp. 279-296 : 287-290

Lacon caeruleus Schimmel, 1998

( Figs. 24–27 , 29, 31, 32 ).

Material. Afghanistan: 1 male, 3 females . 2 females: “Afghan., Konar, W. Barikot, 1600 m, 18.7.1972, Kabakov ” [NE Afghanistan, Kunar Province, W Barikot Town , 1600 m, 18 July 1972, O.N. Kabakov leg.] ( ZISP, OK) ; 1 female: “Afghan., Nurestan, Kamdeš , 1300 m, 14.9.1971, Kabakov ” [E Afghanistan, Nuristan Province, Kamdesh District, Kamdesh Village, 1300 m, 14 September 1971, O.N. Kabakov leg.] (CKS) ; 1 male: “Afghan., Nurestan, SW Čapa-Dara, 1500 m, 12.6.1971, Kabakov ” [E Afghanistan, Nuristan Province, SW Chapa Dara District of Kunar Province, 1500 m, 12 June 1971, O.N. Kabakov leg.] ( CPM).

This species was previously known only from one female, described from Nepal ( Schimmel 1998). This is the first record for Afghanistan.

Morphological remarks. The females from Afghanistan are larger (the female from Kunar Prov. is 13.7 mm long and 3.9 mm wide; the female from Nuristan Prov. is 14.6 mm long and 4.0 mm wide) than the specimen from Nepal (according to the original description, it is 12.8 mm long and 3.4 mm wide). According to Schimmel (1998), L. caeruleus has the pronotal hind angle with weakly visible carina; however, the studied specimens have acarinate hind angles of the pronotum. In other respects, specimens from Kunar Prov. comply well with the original description; the female from Nuristan Prov. differs in the flatter pronotum and longer pronotal hind angles.

The original description is rather short, so I add some notes on several omitted morphological characters:

Pubescence. The body is covered with dense, cobalt blue scale-like setae (the specimen from Kamdesh Distr. has rather dull blue scale-like setae) and sparse whitish ones ( Fig. 25 ). Head. The mandible has a tooth. Thorax. The prosternal sutures are deeply grooved almost to procoxal cavities. The metaventrite medially has a narrow and rather deep impression extended almost over its entire length; metepisternum is rather broad, narrowed towards the posterior margin. The scutellum is shortly tongue-shaped, weakly depressed from sides in anterior 1/3 and punctate similarly to the elytra, its anterior margin is weakly emarginate medially. The elytra have no striae, their punctation is more or less even.

The male ( Fig. 24 ) differs from the female as follows: the body is smaller and slenderer (it is 11.50 long and 3.35 mm wide); the pronotum is flatter. Unfortunately, the antennae of this specimen are damaged so I only could give a description of the first four antennomeres.

Antennomere 1 is long and dilated; antennomere 2 is globose, less than half as long as antennomere 3; antennomere 3 is elongate, slightly prominent at apex; antennomere 4 is 0.9 times as long as antennomere 3 (ratio of length/width of antennomeres from 1 to 4 as 2.5; 1; 1.8; 1.7, respectively). Antennomeres are covered with recumbent and sparse erect setae. In all other respects, the male is similar to the female.

The structure of the genitalia of both sexes is unknown, so I give a brief description of them.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 29 ). The aedeagus is typical, trilobate. Parameres are slightly shorter than the penis, weakly broadened at basal 1/2, slightly expanded at about the anterior 1/4, with a tooth, narrowly rounded at the apex. The penis is relatively slender, distinctly tapering to the apex; its apophyses are short, about 0.3 times as long as the penis.

Female genitalia ( Figs. 31, 32 ). The ovipositor is relatively long; baculum long, strongly sclerotized (ratio length baculum/length ovipositor 0.82); coxite rather strongly sclerotized, with several setae, narrowed to apex, with rather long, distinct stylus. The bursa copulatrix has the large sclerotized plate typical of the genus bearing short spinules and long spines; distally with a small sclerotized plate bearing short spinules; the walls of the bursa copulatrix are more or less evidently weakly sclerotized.

Systematic remarks. L. caeruleus is very similar to the nominotypical subspecies of L. punctatus punctatus (Herbst, 1779) , which is widely distributed in the West Palaearctic and in North Africa, but differs in the shape and proportions of the body, color of the pubescence, shape of the male genitalia, and some minor characters ( Figs. 28 , 30, 33 ). At the same time, the distinctive body shape of L. caeruleus is very similar to the one of L. punctatus oblongus ( Della Beffa, 1931) , which is known only from the very brief original description from “Kashmir” ( Della Beffa 1931). Such important characters as the color of the pubescence of the body or the structure of the genitalia are not mentioned in this description, so L. punctatus oblongus is a rather enigmatic taxon. Moreover, the present location of the type material of this species is unknown, as it is absent in the collection of Della Beffa, which is stored in the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Verona (L. Latella and G. Platia, pers. comm.). It is highly probable that this taxon is a separate species, as its distribution is quite different from the range of the nominotypical L. punctatus punctatus , but its true systematic position and relation to L. caeruleus are still unclear.

It should be noted that L. punctatus was recently rather unexpectedly recorded from the Balochistan Province of Pakistan (Akhter et al. 2012a; Naz et al. 2012) but without any detailed comments. This record probably refers to another species, so it requires further clarification.

Figures

FIGURES 24 – 28. Habitus of Lacon species, dorsal view. 24, 27. L. caeruleus, male (11.5 mm; in Fig. 27 shown part of pronotum and head). 25. L. caeruleus, female (14.6 mm; Afghanistan, Nuristan). 26. L. caeruleus, female (13.7 mm; Afghanistan, Kunar). 28. L. punctatus, female (17 mm; Morocco). Not to scale.

FIGURES 29 – 33. Genitalia of Lacon species: aedeagus, ventral view (Figs. 29, 30); ovipositor, ventral view (Fig. 31); part of female genital tract, general view (Figs. 32, 33). 29, 31, 32. L. caeruleus (Afghanistan). 30. L. punctatus (Turkey). 33. L. punctatus (Morocco). Not to scale.