Lydomorphus Fairmaire, 1882

Bologna, M. A. & Pinto, J. D., 2002, The Old World genera of Meloidae (Coleoptera): a key and synopsis, Journal of Natural History 36 (17), pp. 2013-2102 : 2046-2048

18. Lydomorphus Fairmaire, 1882

Sagitta Escherich, 1894 [nec Sagitta Quaoy and Gaimard, 1827 (Chaetognatha) ]; replaced by Cylindrothorax Escherich.

Cylindrothorax Escherich, 1896 . Type species: Lytta angusticollis Haag-Rutenberg, 1880 , by subsequent designation (Wellman, 1910) as type species of Sagitta Escherich ; new name for Sagitta Escherich.

Mimovesperus Pic, 1923 . Type species: Mimovesperus pilosus Pic, 1923 (= Lytta verrucicollis Karsch, 1881 ), by monotypy.

Pardolydus Bologna, 1992 (as subgenus; currently valid). Type species: Lytta dusaulti Dufour, 1821 , by original designation.

Somalolydus Bologna, 1992 (as subgenus; currently valid). Type species: Cantharis bifoveiceps Fairmaire, 1897 , by original designation.

Type species. Lydomorphus cinnamomeus Fairmaire, 1882 (not cinammomeus as indicated by Bologna and Aloisi, 1992), by original designation (see Bologna and Aloisi, 1992). 74 spp.

Geographic distribution. Africa, Madagascar, from Arabia and the Syro- Palestinian region east to Thailand.

References

Taxonomy. PeyerimhoV (1934); Kaszab (1955b key and catalogue, 1962a, 1965, 1978 partial key, 1983); Saha (1979, key to Indian spp.); Selander (1988a, annotated catalogue); Bologna (1990); Bologna and Alosi (1992).

Bionomics. Paoli (1931–1933); Zethner and Laurense (1988); Selander (1988a, 1991).

Old World genera of Meloidae 2047

Larvae. Bologna and Aloisi (1992).

Pharmacology. Théodoridès (1950, 1954); Giglioli (1965).

Anatomy. Gupta (1971, 1978); Yadav (1973).

Notes

Kaszab (1955b, 1983) divided this genus into several species groups. These also were utilized by Selander (1988a). Bologna (in Bologna and Aloisi, 1992) described two distinct subgenera based on sexually dimorphic features in the male. Included is Somalolydus , with 18 species, characterized by the modi ed third antennal segment and last sternum, and the monotypic Pardolydus , delimited by the modi ed middle antennal segments. Lydomorphus requires complete revision. The monophyly of the genus and several of the species groups are questionable, and certain additional 2014 below groups). require recognition (Bologna, 1990; Bologna and Aloisi, 1992; also see February shared eventually There by is Somalolydus prove no single to be feature, Pardolydus polyphyletic that characterizes and. The numerous following all Lydomorphus species synapomorphic of the, nominate and the characters genus subgenus may are 13 (including the type species): male last sternum almost completely divided and pro- 15 longed into twisted apical lobes (gures 103, 144); eyes, particularly in males,:

23 extending on the ventral surface of the head to the lateral margin of the maxilla or at beyond (gure 34); aedeagus and gonoforceps (laterally) poorly sclerotized; gonofor-] ceps straight, not decurved apically; pronotum elongate, narrowed anteriorly and Bath transversely depressed at anterior third of disk (gure 53); antennae very elongate; of mesepisterna usually broadly meeting at midline and divided by a distinct carina. University [(do The foretarsi Kaszab not species quite,, di1955 Vof er extend the) from, pilitarsis melanocephalus to most the congeners base (Kaszab of group the, in 1955 maxilla that [ melanocephalus )], their. characterized eyes are (not Fabricius by as the greatly, modi 1801 bulged) ed, kulzeri male and by At least 12 species lack these derived features but are tentatively retained in Downloaded the apical decurved Lydomorphus sudanicus lobes apically (. group All gure. These have [145 pici ), the (include Kaszab and male the the, 1955 last male following sternum), gonoforceps rufopectus : (1 normally) (ve Kaszab are species normally emarginate, 1955 herein), sclerotized sudanicus referred and without to (and Pic as, 1930), casalei ( Pic, 1914), discolor (Haag-Rutenberg, 1880)] which had been placed in Kaszab’s (1955b) heterogeneous discolor group. (2) The species of the monotypic leonensis, braeti, optatus and mesembryanthemi groups. (3) At least three species of Kaszab’s angusticollis group [saharanus (Kaszab, 1962), palaestinus (Kirsch, 1870), femoralis (Kocher, 1955)] which we herein refer to as the saharanus group. Although certain of these 12 species have rather distinctive traits [e.g. extremely short antennae in L. mesembryanthemi (Péringuey, 1888) , modi ed male antennae in leonensis ( Pic, 1913) and optatus (Péringuey, 1892), narrowly contacting mesepisterna in leonensis], their common features are almost certainly plesiotypic and do not suggest relationship.

Sybaris may be related to Lydomorphus . It also has enlarged eyes and a somewhat similar pronotal structure. Unlike Lydomorphus , however, it diVers by having serrate claws, distinct male genitalia (well sclerotized with a short and wide phallobase and very elongate gonoforceps; aedeagus only with an apical hook), and an unmodi ed last sternum in males. Species of the sudanicus group of Lydomorphus closely resemble

2014 February 13 15: 23 at] Bath of University [by Downloaded

2048 M. A. Bologna and J. D. Pinto

Sybaris , particularly in the shape of the pronotum. Their claws and male genitalia, however, are typical of Lydomorphus .

One species, fryi Borchmann, 1942 , placed in Sybaris is herein transferred to Lydomorphus , its serrate claws notwithstanding (new combination). Borchmann (1942) placed the species in Sybaris solely due to claw structure. However, it possesses all of the derived features of Lydomorphus and, although its claws are serrate, we note that the teeth are ner than is typical for Sybaris , and that the single aedeagal hook retained is the distal not the proximal hook as is typical for Sybaris . The species clearly has been misplaced.

Selander (1991) placed this genus in the Meloini , presumably because he assumed larval phoresy due to the presence of the genus in Madagascar. The rst instar larva of L. dusaulti (Dufour, 1821) , however, demonstrates lyttine aYnity (Bologna and Aloisi, 1992), and this is now corroborated by the larva of L. bisignatus (Mäklin, 1875) (Bologna, unpublished). Hosts are unknown. There is no support for Escherich’s (1894) assumption that the group is associated with Orthoptera .

The species of this genus were treated as Cylindrothorax by most authors prior to Bologna and Aloisi (1992).