Myzomorphus poultoni Lameere, 1912

Spooner, Amoret & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2016, Notes on some species of Myzomorphus Sallé, 1850 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae, Anacolini), Insecta Mundi 2016 (471), pp. 1-9 : 3

Myzomorphus poultoni Lameere, 1912

( Fig. 8–14)

Myzomorphus poultoni Lameere, 1912: 98 ; 1913: 91; 1919: 169; Melzer 1919: 161; Blackwelder 1946: 557 (checklist); Gilmour 1960: 20; Galileo 1987: 589; Monné and Giesbert 1994: 19 (checklist); Monné 1995: 75 (cat.); 2006: 22 (cat.); 2015: 84 (cat.).

Lameere (1912) described Myzomorphus poultoni as follows (translated): “A male from Brazil at the Museum of Oxford. Length of 10 millimeters, reddish-yellow, with the head, sides of thorax, distal half of metafemora and metatibiae dark; the antennae are dark with whitish lamellae; the elytra are dark with a border and the humerus yellowish. The metatibiae are much dilated, foliaceous, as in the next species [ M. gounellei ]. The prosternal process remained wide; the prothorax has no lateral tooth; the pronotum has a central depression limited at both sides by a distinct, smooth and shiny carina. The elytra are short, regularly bent at inner side. The antennae are as long as body, with the lamellae wide and rounded as in previous species [ M. scutellatus Sallé, 1850 ; M. quadripunctatus ]. The punctation is reticulate on the pronotum and elytra.”

The original description by Lameere (1912) does not agree with the holotype ( Fig. 8–10) on the following characters: ventral side of the head mostly yellowish; metatibiae yellowish only on basal third; lamellae partially dark; prothorax has distinct lateral tubercle, although is rounded; antennae longer than body (surpass abdominal apex about apex of antennomere X).

According to Galileo (1987) (translated): “ Lameere (1912) established the species based on a single male from Brazil belonging to the Oxford Museum. According to information by M. J. Scoble, the holotype is not in “Hope Entomological Collection,” Oxford;” and “ M. poultoni has hind tibiae strongly foliaceous and developed and smooth tubercles on pronotum, very close to M. gounellei . No specimens were examined.” However, the specimen ( Fig. 8–11) rediscovered at OUMNH is the holotype, as described by Lameere (1912).

Myzomorphus poultoni ( Fig. 8–10, 12–14) and M. gounellei Lameere, 1912 ( Fig. 5–7, 15–17) share as main features the notably foliaceous metatibiae and the shiny carina on each side of the pronotum. These features together allow for the separation of these species from all other known males in the genus. Lameere (1912) separated the two species in his key (translated): “Antennal process [lamella] wide and short; prosternal process wide; elytra short triangle-shaped in male [conducting to M. poultoni ] / Antennal process long and slender; prosternal process narrow; elytra elongate in male, not shortened posteriorly, and with expanded margin in female [conducting to M. gounellei ].” However, the couplet is flawed. Comparing the lamellae in the holotype of M. poultoni ( Fig. 8–10) with the syntype male of M. gounellei ( Fig. 15–17), it is possible to see that they are very similar in size and width (not distinctly different as pointed out by Lameere). Comparing the prosternal process, it is possible to see that they have practically the same width. This was confirmed by examination of a male of M. gounellei ( Fig. 5–6), and a male of M. poultoni ( Fig. 12–14), both from MNRJ. The only reliable feature to separate these species is the elytral shape: longer (about 3.0 times as long as largest width), more distinctly narrowed toward apex in M. gounellei ; shorter (about 2.5 times as long as largest width), less narrowed toward apex in M. poultoni . As this is the only difference, it is not necessary to redescribe the species, because M. gounellei was suitably redescribed by Galileo (1987).

Monné and Monné (2011) reported: “ Myzomorphus scutellatus Sallé, 1849 / Figures 2A, B).” A reexamination of the photos of the males figured showed that “ Figure 2A ”, examined by the second author, is a male of M. gounellei and is the specimen used to establish the new state record [“ Brazil, São Paulo, Serra da Bocaina (São José Barreiro, 1650 m), male, November 1968, Seabra and Alvarenga col. (MNRJ).”]. In Monné’s (2015) catalogue “ Fig. 2A and 2B ” by Monné and Monné (2011) is referenced for both M. scutellatus and M. gounellei .