Aetheomorpha weigeli Medvedev, 2010

Wang, Feng-Yan & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2012, Taxonomy of the genus Aetheomorpha Lacordaire (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cryptocephalinae: Clytrini) from China, with description of five new species, Journal of Natural History 46 (23 - 24), pp. 1407-1440 : 1433-1437

Aetheomorpha weigeli Medvedev, 2010

( Figures 11A–I , 13D )

Medvedev, 2010: 195 (type locality: Yunnan, Xishuangbanna ; holotype deposited: NMEG) .

Material examined

CHINA: Yunnan, eight males, Xishuangbanna, Menghai , 18 July 1958, leg. Shuyong Wang ; two males, Xishuangbanna, Menghai , 19 July 1958, leg. Fuji Pu ; one male, Xishuangbanna, Menghai , 19 July 1958, leg. Shuyong Wang ; four males, Xishuangbanna, Menghai , 20 July 1958, leg. Fuji Pu ; one male, one female, Xishuangbanna, Menghai , 21 July 1958, leg. Fuji Pu ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Menghai , 22 July 1958, leg. Fuji Pu ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Mengzhe , 4 July 1958, leg. Fuji Pu ; one male, Xishuangbanna, Mengzhe , 5 July 1958, leg. Fuji Pu ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Mengzhe , 7 July 1958, leg. Fuji Pu ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Mengzhe , 8 July 1958, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one female, Mengzhe, Xishuangbanna , 10 July 1958, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 3 July 1957, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 7 July 1957, leg. Lingchao Zang ; one male, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 12 July 1957, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one male, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 12 July1957, leg. Lingchao Zang ; one male, one female, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 13 July 1957, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 7 August 1957, leg. Lingchao Zang ; one male, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 17 August 1957, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 23 August 1957, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , time unknown, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one male, Xishuangbanna, Damenglong , 11 July 1958, leg. Chunpei Hong ; two females, Xishuangbanna, Mengla , 9 July 1959, leg. Facai Zhang ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Mengla , 10 July 1959, leg. Fuji Pu ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Jinghong , 22 July 1957, leg. Lingchao Zang ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Mengna , 29 June 1959, leg. Zhenfu Li ; one female, Xishuangbanna, Meng’a , 4 August 1958, leg. Shuyong Wang ; one female, Xishuangbanna Botanical Garden , 22 July 2007, leg. Guo Zheng ; one female, Lancang , 2 August 1957, leg. Lingchao Zang ; one female, Lancang , 6 August 1957, leg. Lingchao Zang ( IZ-CAS) ; one female, Mengla, Wangtianshu , 6–7 August 2007, legg. Guodong Ren, Wenjun Hou, Yalin Li ( HBUM) ; one female, Dehong, Lianghe , 27–30 July 2005, legg. Benyong Mao, Jishan Xu ( HBUM) .

Description

Body oblong-ovate, sexual dimorphism, head protruded in males. Head and basal three antennomeres light brown, fourth to eleventh antennomeres and apices of mandibles blackish brown, vertex sometimes black. Pronotum light brown with four oblong black spots in a transverse row, intermediate two sometimes connected, forming a large oblong spot. Scutellum black. Elytra light brown, suture black, each elytron with four spots: humeral spot, one oblong spot near the humeral spot, third much smaller, situated at one-third, fourth placed in the middle; lateral margin with a stripe which connected with the humeral spot, the stripe wide, narrowest at basal one-quarter. Underside of body light brown, metapleura and metasternum sometimes darker, tibiae especially the posterior half and tarsi blackish brown.

Head small, smooth and nearly impunctate. Eyes moderate. Frons broad, 1.7 times as wide as the diameter of the eye (about half of maximal width of the head) in both sexes; surface near inner margins of eyes covered with long punctures; anterior margin of clypeus widely incised. Labrum with pubescence, slightly incised at anterior margin; mandibles short; length ratio of maxillary palpomeres 0.1: 1.0: 0.9: 1.6; length ratio of labial palpomeres 0.3: 1.0: 1.8; mentum deeply emarginated. Antennae extending to base of pronotum; all antennomeres except third pubescent; first antennomere elongate, second and third small, rounded, fourth triangular, last antennomere subovate, others serrate; length ratio of antennomeres 1.2: 0.5: 0.4: 0.6: 0.8: 0.9: 0.9: 0.9: 0.9: 0.8: 1.2.

Pronotum transverse, twice as wide as long, widest at middle; feebly convex; very narrowly bordered; anterior angles obtusely angled, posterior ones rounded; anterior margin nearly straight, sides rounded, posterior margin feebly sinuous, slightly lobed in the middle; surface impunctate and shiny. Scutellum impunctate, broadly trigonal, with truncate apex.

Elytra 1.4 times as long as wide, nearly parallel-sided in anterior half, narrowed posteriorly behind the middle; feebly lobed below shoulders; surface lustrous, with fine punctures, interstices 1.5–2 times the diameter of a puncture at base near suture, and the punctures reducing posteriorly and laterally, disappearing in apical slopes. Epipleura broad, about half of elytral length. Pygidium partly free, apex narrowly rounded.

Underside of body and legs covered with short silvery pubescence; tarsi broad, length ratio of protarsomeres 1.3: 1.0: 0.2: 2.2.

Aedeagus pale, apex slightly bent ventrally, underside with a ridge in the middle, a ridge at each lateral margin, area between the ridges shallowly depressed.

Female. Body more robust, head not protruded; abdomen more inflated, pygidium exposed, apex slightly incised, sometimes brownish; legs more slender; spermatheca moderate, spermathecal duct very long, anterior two-thirds thin, firstly helically coiled, then loosely winded, posterior one-third thicker, with long and inflated base; ventral rectal sclerites large and long, dorsal central sclerite reduced into two extremely small sclerites; lateral ones moderate.

Measurement

Males: 5.1–5.7 mm, females: 5.2–5.9 mm.

Distribution

China (Yunnan).

Remarks. After submission of this article, we received the reviewers’ comments from the editor almost at same time as the work of Medvedev (2010) was published. We carefully reconsidered the species, especially the new species included in our original manuscript, and found that our new species is the same as Aetheomorpha weigeli Medvedev , a new species proposed in his paper. Hence, we made changes and adopted his name here, but we preserved the description and figures as they were. This treatment may be helpful for the future study and taxonomic emendation if required.

According to our study, Aetheomorpha weigeli Medvedev has a colour pattern of pronotum and elytra that is close to that of A. suturata (Jacoby, 1898) and A. jacobyi Medvedev, 1988 , but there are some clear and stable differences listed below that can be used to distinguish this species from the most closely allied or other congeneric species: pronotum has four black spots, central ones sometimes combined; elytra irregularly punctured, but not punctate-striated; underside of aedeagus has three ridges, especially a high central ridge, which is very different from other congeneric species. Moreover, Aetheomorpha weigeli Medvedev is found currently only in Yunnan, whereas A. suturata (Jacoby) is found in Nepal, India and Indochina and A. jacobyi Medvedev in Assam.

Figures

Figure 11. Aetheomorpha weigeli Medvedev: (A) habitus; (B) maxilla; (C) labium; (D) male genitalia in dorsal view; (E) male genitalia in lateral view; (F) male genitalia in ventral view; (G) spermatheca; (H) rectal sclerites in ventral view; (I) rectal sclerites in dorsal view. Scales 0.5 mm.

Figure 13. Habitus of Aetheomorpha: (A) Aetheomorpha gressitti Medvedev and Regalin (Holotype); (B) Aetheomorpha laeta Medvedev (Paratype); (C) Aetheomorpha taiwana Chûjô (Paratype of Aetheomorpha bowditchi Gressitt and Kimoto); (D) Aetheomorpha weigeli Medvedev.