Mimothestus Pic, 1935

Xie, Guang-Lin, Shi, Fu-Ming & Wang, Wen-Kai, 2012, Synopsis of the genus Mimothestus Pic with description of a new species from China (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), Zootaxa 3385, pp. 62-68 : 62-63

Mimothestus Pic, 1935

Mimothestus Pic, 1935: 15 ; Breuning, 1943: 272; Chiang, 1951: 46; Gressitt, 1951: 364; Breuning, 1961: 335. Type species: Mimothestus annulicornis Pic, 1935 .

Generic diagnosis. Body medium to large size, usually covered with bright pubescence, and marked with irregular black spots on elytra. Head, pronotum and elytra covered with sparse and short erect or semirecumbent hairs. Head densely and finely punctate, or coarsely and sparsely punctate; frons subquadrate, slightly convex, with a fine longitudinal medium sulcus extending to occiput; vertex impressed between antennal tubercles. Eye finely faceted, lower lobe longer than broad, at least twice as long as gena below. Antenna longer than body, densely fringed beneath; antennal tubercle rather elevated; scape stout, cylindrical, with a completely closed cicatrix at apex; third antennomere longest, about twice as long as scape. Pronotum broader than long, anterior and posterior margin with transverse sulcus; lateral tubercle at the middle of each side developed; both sides of mid-line on disc engraved with fine granules or punctures. Scutellum lingulate to semicircular. Elytra long, with subparallel sides, apical margin rounded or with sutural angle spined; basal surface punctate-granular or punctate. Leg stout and short, mesotibia with an oblique groove near external apex; procoxal cavity closed posteriorly, mesocoxal cavity open at side; mesosternal intercoxal process obliquely sloping anteriorly, not tuberculate; claw widely divergent, forming an angle of about 180 degrees.

Discussion. This genus closely resembles Sarothrocersa White and Parhaplothrix Breuning but can be easily distinguished from the former by lower eye lobe at least twice as long as gena, and scape relatively thinner and third antennomere distinctly longer than fourth. It can also be distinguished from the latter by the mesotibia having an oblique groove near external apex.

Distribution. Mimothestus Pic is distributed south of Yangtze River and in Central, South and Southwest China. Recently, Francesco Vitali’s website on worldwide Cerambycoidea indicates that this genus also occurs in Cambodia (available from http://www.cerambycoidea.com/forum2.asp?id=3844, accessed 20 February 2012).

M. annulicornis Pic is widely distributed in China being recorded in Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Guizhou and Yunnan, and recently in Cambodia while M. delkeskampi Breuning is only recorded from Guangdong and M. atricornis Pu only from Hainan, China.