Therates chennelli Bates, 1878

Wiesner, Jürgen, 2013, The chennelli group of the Genus Therates Latreille (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) 114. Contribution towards the knowledge of Cicindelidae, Insecta Mundi 2013 (315), pp. 1-86 : 41

39. Therates chennelli Bates

( Fig. 299 )

Therates chennelli Bates 1878: 335 .

Therates chenelli . Fleutiaux 1892: 134; Fowler 1912: 297, 298, f. 136; Heynes-Wood and Dover 1928: 42; Wiesner 1988: 16, f. 17, 64, 65, 234, 299, 396; Naviaux 1991: 232, f. 39, 40; Wiesner 1992: 90; Probst and Wiesner 1994b: 101; Cassola and Klícha 2002: 38; Cassola 2006: 27.

Therates c hennelli . Horn 1910: 194; Horn 1926: 113; Naviaux 1987: 70.

Type depository. Unknown, see under “Remarks”.

Nomenclatural note. The alternative spelling of the species name using one n is incorrect. The proper spelling is with two n’s as originally used by Bates in 1878: 335.

Diagnosis. Distinguished by the broad extension of the elytral maculation into a right angle incorporating the central dots of the posterior margin.

Re-description. Size: Total length (without labrum) 7.5 mm- 8.5 mm, (mean=8.0 mm, n=13). Head: Shining greenish black. Mandibles yellowish, brownish distally in females, teeth brownish marginally. Labrum (male Fig. 304 , female Fig. 305 ) barely wider than long or as wide as long, yellowish, with six apical teeth and one lateral tooth. Labial and maxillary palpi yellowish. Antennae extending posteriorally behind elytral shoulders in female, somewhat longer in the males, distal two segments in males flattened, scape with a single apical bristle, antennomeres 2 to 5 glabrous, antennomeres 6 to 11 finely and evenly pubescent; scape yellowish above, black on underside, all the other antennal segments brownish, distal four to six segments somewhat darker. Clypeus glabrous. Frons smooth. Thorax: Pronotum shining greenish black, barely longer than wide, slightly more constricted in front than at back, transverse furrows strong, middle line and lateral lines nearly obsolete. Elytra: Shining brownish black, with basal and apical humps, distinctly punctate behind basal humps, shallower in the reminder ( Fig. 300 ). Elytral apex with roundish lateral corner and sutural tooth, recurved between. Maculation composed of a large brownish yellow humeral lunula extending from the marginal to the middle suture, leaving open only a small blackish dot at the lateral margin of the basal humps, connected with a yellow horizontal central dot with nearly right angled back margin, and a light yellow apex which reaches the apical humps ( Figs. 301, 302 ). Ventral aspect: Venter black, ventrites yellowish marginally. Legs yellowish. Aedeagus: ( Fig. 303 ) curved, with pin shaped and produced tip, total length 1.8 mm.

Distribution. Myanmar (Mandalay, Kayin, Tanintharyi).

Localities. MYANMAR, Karen Mts. ( JWCG) , Karen Hills, Upper Burma , 4000 ft. ( MNHN) , Kayin, Karen Mts. ( BMNH, SDEI) , Tanintharyi (Tenasserim], Taungya , iv.1898 ( BMNH) , Mandalay, Ruby Mines, 1904, 1600-2300 m ( BMNH) , Mandalay, Ruby Mines ( SDEI) .

Remarks. Therates chennelli was described by Bates in 1878 based on probably one male from Naga Hills. Fleutiaux (1892: 134) noticed this species from the same place. The locality Karen Hills was added by Fowler (1912:297). While searching for the type material of Th. chennelli I was unable to find any specimens from Naga Hills in either the British Museum of Natural History (Bates collection) or Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Oberthur collection) collections. Only specimens from Karen Hills were found in these collections as was the case of the Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut (Horn collection). Because these two localities are separated by more than one thousand kilometers, and the possibility of significant taxonomic differences between beetles from such widely separated localities is great, I cannot designate a neotype unless specimens from the Naga Hills become available for study. I thus follow herein the species description based on those beetles from Karen Hills. Records of this species from localities outside Myanmar ( Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore - several authors) do not fit with this description, and place them in the species Th. rogeri or Th. pseudochenelli .

Figures

Figures 293-305. Therates. All scales = 1 mm. 293-298. rihai Moravec and Wiesner, 2001. 293) Habitus, holotype male. 294) Punctures of elytra, holotype male. 295) Maculae of elytra, holotype male. 296) Left lateral view of aedeagus, holotype. 297-298. Labra. 297) Holotype male. 298) Paratype female. 299-305. chennelli Bates, 1878. 299) Habitus, female from Karen Hills (MNHN). 300) Punctures of elytra, female from Karen Hills (MNHN). 301- 302. Maculae of elytrae. 301) Female from Karen Hills (MNHN). 302) Male from Tenasserim (BMNH). 303) Left lateral view of aedeagus, from Tenasserim (BMNH). 304-305. Labra. 304) Male from Karen Mts. (JWGC). 305) Female from Karen Hills (MNHN).