Coleoptera, Elateroidea) from the Palaearctic Region
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Insect Systematics & Evolution (2016) DOI 10.1163/1876312X-47022140 brill.com/ise Asiopsectra gen. n., a second genus of the family Brachypsectridae (Coleoptera, Elateroidea) from the Palaearctic Region Alexey V. Kovaleva,b,* and Alexander G. Kirejtshukb,c aAll-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, Podbelsky Roadway 3, 196608 Saint Petersburg, Pushkin, Russia bZoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Emb. 1, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia cCNRS UMR 7205, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, Entomologie, 45, rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France *Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract A new genus of the family Brachypsectridae with two new species, Asiopsectra luculenta gen. et sp. n. (type species) from the Middle East (Iran) and A. mirifica sp. n. from Middle Asia (Tajikistan) are described. The genus Asiopsectra gen. n., in contrast to the genus Brachypsectra, is characterized by the 12-segmented bilamellate antennae, the very large and subcontiguous antennal fossae, the strongly raised supra-antennal keels, the very narrow mandibles, the presence of small “window” punctures on the elytra, the lack of keels along the posterior pronotal angles, and only a small patch of excretory hairs at the posterior edge of abdominal ventrite 5. A revised diagnosis for the family Brachypsectridae is given. Keywords Coleoptera; Elateroidea; Brachypsectridae; new taxa; Palaearctic Introduction The infraorder Elateriformia includes many families whose members manifest many similar trends of structural transformations making it difficult both to define family attribution of some groups, and to divide this enormous group into distinct subgroups with reasonable taxonomic significance of different ranks (Lawrence 1988; Lawrence et al. 1995, 2011; etc). At the same time, placement of some groups has frequently changed after re-estimation of the phylogenetic value of separate groups of characters. The genusBrachypsectra was initially proposed in the composition of the family Rhipiceridae Latreille, 1834 (LeConte 1874) and later its position was changed some- times (e.g., Forbes 1926; Blair 1930, among others). Horn (1881) erected for this © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2016 DOI 10.1163/1876312X-47022140 A.V. Kovalev and A.G. Kirejtshuk / Insect Systematics & Evolution (2016) 2 DOI 10.1163/1876312X-47022140 genus a new separate tribe within the family Dascillidae Guérin-Méneville, 1843. Crowson (1955), apparently following Barber (1905), put this family in the superfam- ily Cantharoidea mostly because of some larval characters (particularly the perforate mandibles), but later he (Crowson 1973) erected the superfamily Artematopoidea and transferred Brachypsectridae to it. Finally, Lawrence and Newton (1982) jointed Artematopoidea and Elateroidea into one supefamily, and then in many recent publi- cations this united superfamily is regarded together also with all members of the for- mer Cantharoidea. The new genus here described sheds light on the variability of this group and could be an important contribution to clarifying the systematics of the superfamily Elateroidea and phylogenetic links between its groups. During recent studies on Elateroidea in the collections of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Hungarian Natural History Museum (Budapest), two new species of the new genus were discovered. Comparison with representatives of different families of this superfamily made it possible to determine that they are rather similar and related to the genus Brachypsectra LeConte, 1874 (Brachypsectridae Horn, 1881). Till now, only one species of the family was known from the Palaearctic (Hájek 2010). Material and methods The type specimens of the new species are deposited in the collections of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary (HNHM) and the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia (ZIN). Male genitalia, after the standard preparation procedure, were dipped in a drop of Euparal and placed on a plastic card pinned below the mounted beetles. The digital colour photographs were taken with a Canon EOS 40D digital camera with a Canon MP-E 65 mm objec- tive and on a Leica MZ9.5 stereo microscope equipped with a Leica DFC290 digital camera from dry specimens; they were combined using the Helicon Focus software. One of the holotypes was also examined with a Zeiss EVO 40 scanning electron micro- scope at the Herzen State Pedagogical University (Saint Petersburg) to test the charac- ters not readily visible with optical equipment. The superfamily Elateroidea sensu lato (Lawrence & Newton, 1995) is traditionally divided into two groups which formerly were usually called Elateroidea and Cantaroidea (Crowson, 1972, 1973; Kazantsev, 2013, among others) and in some recent publica- tions these groups are respectively named as “clicking elateroids” and “soft-bodied elateroids” (Lawrence et al., 2007, 2011; Bocak et al., 2014; Kundrata et al. 2014, among others). Unfortunately because of many problems in the classification of the Elateroidea remain unsolved and currently are the focus of intensive discussions, in this paper these two groups of Elateroidea sensu lato are conventionally mentioned with the traditional names Elateroidea sensu str. and “Cantharoidea” (with quotation marks) till the phylogenetic relationship in Elateroidea will reach unambiguous interpretation. Specimens of different elateroid groups for comparison were used from the ZIN collection. A.V. Kovalev and A.G. Kirejtshuk / Insect Systematics & Evolution (2016) DOI 10.1163/1876312X-47022140 3 Systematics Order Coleoptera Linnaeus, 1758 Suborder Polyphaga Emery, 1886 Superfamily Elateroidea Leach, 1815 Family Brachypsectridae Horn, 1881 Redefined diagnosis for adults (after Costa et al. 2006). Body of medium size (4–8 mm), oblong, slightly convex dorsally and ventrally, finely pubescent. Head transverse, partly inserted into prothorax, without occipital carina or subgenal ridges; anterior part of frons strongly declined, so that mouthparts are directed ven- trally; each supra-antennal fossa continuing ventrally and laterally to form a short and oblique subantennal groove. Eyes large to very large, globular, strongly protruding and finely faceted. Gular sutures diverging posteriorly. Antennae 11-segmented with subapical antennomeres expanded to form a pectinate club (weaker in female) or 12-segmented and bilamellate; scape longer than wide and longer than pedicel. Labrum small, free, well sclerotized, transverse and rounded or subtruncate at apex. Mandible small, uni- dentate, wide and subtriangular or narrow, slightly curved and subacute at apex, with- out mola or prostheca. Maxilla with galea and lacinia subequal in length; galea more or less hyaline and lined with setae; ultimate palpomere fusiform (Fig. 11). Mentum transverse and trapezoidal; ligula short; ultimate palpomere fusiform (Fig. 10). Pronotum transverse, widest at base, with lateral carina not visible from above; ante- rior angles obtuse, not projecting anteriorly; posterior angles usually acute or obtuse and projecting posteriolaterally along sides of elytral bases; posterior carina, if present, meeting the lateral carina at top of posterior angles; disc slightly convex in male and somewhat flattened anteriorly in females (ofBrachypsectra ); posterior edge trisinuate with moderately developed interlocking device. Prosternum slightly convex or flat- tened to slightly depressed medially, at least twice as long as procoxal cavity; chin piece short and explanate or absent; head rest transverse and slightly oblique; prosternal process narrow, about 0.4 times as wide as procoxal cavity, with sides more or less con- verging apically and apex truncate or acuminate, extending posteriorly to fit into mes- oventral cavity; procoxal cavities transverse, open internally, broadly open externally, postcoxal process of prohypomera short and angulate. Procoxae transverse with well- developed articulating area and slender trochantin more or less concealed under expan- sion of prosternal cowling. Scutellum abruptly elevated, with straight or widely rounded, carinate basal edge, slightly rounded lateral edges and rounded to subtrun- cate or slightly emarginate apex. Elytra 1.5–2 times as long as wide combined and 3.2–5 times as long as prothorax; sides subparallel or slightly wider at posterior third; apices conjointly rounded; disc subflattened with nine very weak punctate striae or with irregular rows of “window” punctures; scutellary striole absent; humeri more or less well developed, carinate anteri- orly, the carinae continuing along base to scutellar carina; epipleura complete, narrowed from base to level of anterior third of metepisterna and subparallel distally. A.V. Kovalev and A.G. Kirejtshuk / Insect Systematics & Evolution (2016) 4 DOI 10.1163/1876312X-47022140 Mesoventrite in same plane as metaventrite, mesepisterna clearly separated from one another and from mesoventrite; anterior part of mesothorax with pair of large and shallow procoxal rests and median convexity; mesoventral cavity in posterior part relatively large and deep, extending far beyond anterior edges of mesocoxal cavities. Mesocoxal cavities separated by little more than one-third of shortest diameter, slightly transverse, laterally open (partly closed by mesepisterna and mesepimera). Mesometaventral junction complex with metaventral knob fitting into notch on mes- oventral process. Metaventrite relatively long and flattened;