Lacon mekrani ( Candèze, 1889 ), Candeze, 1889

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 : 290-293

Lacon mekrani ( Candèze, 1889)

( Figs. 34–37 , 40, 42–44 )

Lacon kurukshetrensis Vats & Kashyap, 1992 syn. nov.

Material. 1 male, 2 females. Afghanistan : 1 male: “E. Afghanistan, Nangharkhar prov., 8 km SE Jalalabad city, Kabul river, Bande-Kalaksun env., 29.VI.2013 [29 June 2013], O.V. Pak leg.” ( CPM) ; 1 female: “Afghan., Konar, W. Barikot, 1400 m, 18.7.1972, Kabakov ” [NE Afghanistan, Kunar Province, W Barikot Town , 1400 m, 18 July 1972, O.N. Kabakov leg.] (CKS) ; Iran: 1 female: “ Baluchistan persicum, Sarbar (apparently “ Sarbaz ”) - Minan, IV ” [ Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Sarbaz County, IV (probably month of collecting: April )] ( ZMMU) .

This species was originally described from “Beloutchistan” [ Pakistan, Balochistan Province] and later recorded from Iran and Afghanistan ( Candèze 1889; Cate et al. 2002; Platia & Németh 2011).

Systematic remarks. L. mekrani is evidently a rather variable species. The female specimen from Iran at my disposal is nearly identical to the lectotype stored in the collection of the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Brussels ( Figs. 34, 35 ). Both specimens have rather small, dark reddish brown bodies (the lectotype, male, is 11 mm long and 3 mm wide, according to the description; the female specimen from Iran is 12.2 mm long and 3.65 mm wide). The specimens from Afghanistan have larger bodies (the male is 12.9 mm long and 4 mm wide; the female is 14.4 mm long and 4.4 mm wide); their color is on average darker, the carina of the hind angles is less apparent ( Figs. 36–37 ; see also Platia & Németh 2011). Other characters are quite similar and I have no doubts that all these specimens belong to the same species.

Lacon kurukshetrensis was briefly described from one female from North India, Haryana State ( Vats & Kashyap 1992). The description and provided photograph of the specimen almost completely agree with the diagnosis of L. mekrani , so I conclude that Lacon kurukshetrensis is a junior subjective synonym of L. mekrani . This species was recently recorded from North Pakistan ( Platia 2015a); photographs of the habitus and aedeagus of L. kurukshetrensis given in this article are also identical to those of L. mekrani (specimens from Afghanistan) ( Fig. 40 ).

Lacon mekrani is closely related to L. modestus (Boisduval, 1835) , which is rather widely distributed in the East Palaearctic and the Oriental region and also found in other zoogeographical regions ( Cate et al. 2007; Platia 2015a), but the latter has a distinctly broader, more convex, and shorter body, different position of the carina of the pronotal hind angle, distinct carina-like oblique eminences lateral of the scutellum, while L. mekrani has such eminences rather obsolete, and a different shape of the aedeagus ( Figs. 38, 39 , 41 ). The female genitalia of both species are quite similar and share quite an unusual trait ( Figs. 43, 46 ): the shape of one of the lateral long spines of the large plate inside the bursa copulatrix. This spine has a forked apex, while the other long spines are simply pointed at the apex. A similar structure of the female genitalia is also found in L. nadaii Platia & Németh, 2011 ( Fig. 45 ), but this species has markedly different external morphology ( Platia & Németh 2011).

In general appearance L. mekrani and L. modestus are also similar to several other species from the East Palaearctic and Oriental region: L. wallacei ( Candèze, 1874) , L. cinctus ( Candèze, 1878) , L. cognatus ( Candèze, 1892) , L. cristatus ( Fleutiaux, 1918) , L. distinctus ( Fleutiaux, 1920) , L. expansus ( Fleutiaux, 1920) , and L. nigrofuscus Vats & Kashyap, 1992 ( Candèze 1874, 1878, 1892; Fleutiaux 1918, 1920, 1947; Binaghi 1941; Vats & Kashyap 1992). All these species have rather convex, oblong or ellipsoidal bodies and more or less developed carina-like oblique eminences lateral of the scutellum; usually these eminences are covered with setae, which differ in color from the rest of the elytral pubescence. The natural affinities of these little-known taxa probably could be revealed after a detailed morphological study, especially of their male and female genitalia.

Figures

FIGURES 34 – 39. Habitus of Lacon species, dorsal view. 34. L. mekrani, lectotype, male (Pakistan, photo by C. Locatelli, Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique). 35. L. mekrani, male (12.2 mm; Iran). 36. L. mekrani, male (12.9 mm; Afghanistan). 37. L. mekrani, female (14.4 mm; Afghanistan). 38. L. modestus, male (11 mm; eastern India). 39. L. modestus, female (12.2 mm; western India). Not to scale.

FIGURES 40 – 46. Genitalia of Lacon species: aedeagus, ventral view (Figs. 40, 41); ovipositor, ventral view (Fig. 42); part of female genital tract, general view (Figs. 43 – 46). 40. L. mekrani (Afghanistan). 41. L. modestus (eastern India). 42 – 44. L. mekrani (Iran; in Fig. 44 viewed from underside). 45. L. nadaii (Iran). 46. L. modestus (western India). Not to scale.