Gamepenthes Fleutiaux, 1928

Arimoto, Koichi & Arimoto, Hisayuki, 2020, The genus Nipponodrasterius Kishii (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Agrypninae), a junior synonym of the genus Gamepenthes Fleutiaux (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Elaterinae), with review of the Japanese Gamepenthes species, ZooKeys 1004, pp. 109-127 : 109

Genus Gamepenthes Fleutiaux, 1928

Gamepenthes Fleutiaux, 1928: 158 (original description; type species: Megapenthes octomaculatus Schwarz, 1898; by original designation).

Nipponodrasterius Kishii, 1966: 9 (original description; type species: Nipponodrasterius alpicola Kishii, 1966; by original designation); Kishii 1987: 62 (redescription). syn. nov.

Diagnosis.

Head capsule oval in lateral view. Supra-antennal carina complete, rounded, depressed medially. Frontoclypeal region narrowed medially. Mouth-parts inferior. Antennae serrate from antennomere IV, without median longitudinal carina; antennomere IV longer than II-III combined in many, shorter than II-III combined in a few. Pronotum with median basal furrow, without sublateral incision near hind angles; hind angles unicarinate. Pronotosternal sutures not grooved or very shallowly grooved in front. Posterior edge of hypomeron straight mesally and then broadly rounded. Procoxal cavity partly closed behind by mesal projection of hypomeron. Prosternal process concave between procoxae, with subapical tooth in lateral view. Side of scutellum parallel on anterior half. Mesocoxal cavity open to mesepimeron and mesepisternum. Mesosternum separated by suture from metasternum. Outer edge of metacoxal plates wide in most, but narrowed in a few. Elytral surface with rasp-like punctures; elytral apical edge serrate and with small spines, serration very slight in some and then almost rounded. Tarsi simple; claws simple, without basal setae.

Ôhira (1970a, 1995a) stated that the apical elytral edge is more or less truncate; however, this is based on a misunderstanding.

Distribution.

Oriental region (Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam): 30 species ( Schimmel 2003, 2004, 2006; Schimmel and Tarnawski 2009). Palearctic region (Japan, Russia): five species ( Kishii 1999; Prosvirov 2013).

Ecology.

Adults of the genus are often observed visiting flowers during the daytime. In Japan, Gamepenthes has been recorded visiting the flowers of Sambucus sp. and Viburnum sp. (family Adoxaceae ), Angelica sp. ( Apiaceae ), Aralia cordata Thunb. ( Araliaceae ), Clethra barbinervis Siebold et Zucc. ( Clethraceae ), Neoshirakia japaonica (Siebold et Zucc.) Esser ( Euphorbiaceae ), Castanea crenata Siebold et Zucc. ( Fagaceae ), Hydrangea paniculata Siebold and H. serrata (Thunb.) Ser. var. acuminata (Siebold et Zucc.) Nakai ( Hydrangeaceae ), and Cimicifuga sp. ( Ranunculaceae ) ( Ôhira, 1995a). This study adds flowers of Tilia japonica (Miq.) Simonk. ( Malvaceae ) to the records.

While most adult Gamepenthes individuals are not attracted to lights at night, G. similis has been collected by light traps (Ootsuka et al., 1981). We examined a few specimens of G. ornatus and G. pictipennis collected using simple light traps made with weak fluorescent lights.

Included species from Japan.

Five species: G. ornatus (Lewis, 1894); G. pictipennis (Lewis, 1894); G. similis (Lewis, 1894); G. versipellis (Lewis, 1894); G. yoshidai Ôhira, 1995.