New and little-known species of the genus Lacon Laporte, 1838 (Coleoptera: Elateridae) of Afghanistan and adjacent countries Author Prosvirov, Alexander S. text Zootaxa 2016 4168 2 279 296 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.4168.2.3 ebd41c6e-70a8-42eb-b2e3-ecf4571b0264 1175-5326 263284 8E2898F3-4111-497F-A630-2C06A3C23B31 Lacon mekrani ( Candèze, 1889 ) ( Figs. 34–37 , 40, 42–44 ) Lacon kurukshetrensis Vats & Kashyap, 1992 syn. nov. Material. 1 male , 2 females . Afghanistan : 1 male : “E. Afghanistan , Nangharkhar prov. , 8 km SE Jalalabad city, Kabul river, Bande-Kalaksun env., 29.VI.2013 [ 29 June 2013 ], O.V. Pak leg.” ( CPM ) ; 1 female : “Afghan., Konar , W. Barikot , 1400 m , 18.7.1972 , Kabakov ” [NE Afghanistan , Kunar Province , W Barikot Town , 1400 m , 18 July 1972 , O.N. Kabakov leg.] (CKS) ; Iran: 1 female : “ Baluchistan persicum, Sarbar (apparently “ Sarbaz ”) - Minan, IV ” [ Iran , Sistan and Baluchestan Province , Sarbaz County , IV (probably month of collecting: April )] ( ZMMU ) . This species was originally described from “Beloutchistan” [ Pakistan , Balochistan Province ] and later recorded from Iran and Afghanistan ( Candèze 1889 ; Cate et al. 2002 ; Platia & Németh 2011 ). Systematic remarks. L. mekrani is evidently a rather variable species. The female specimen from Iran at my disposal is nearly identical to the lectotype stored in the collection of the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique , Brussels ( Figs. 34, 35 ). Both specimens have rather small, dark reddish brown bodies (the lectotype , male, is 11 mm long and 3 mm wide, according to the description; the female specimen from Iran is 12.2 mm long and 3.65 mm wide). The specimens from Afghanistan have larger bodies (the male is 12.9 mm long and 4 mm wide; the female is 14.4 mm long and 4.4 mm wide); their color is on average darker, the carina of the hind angles is less apparent ( Figs. 36–37 ; see also Platia & Németh 2011 ). Other characters are quite similar and I have no doubts that all these specimens belong to the same species. FIGURES 34–39. Habitus of Lacon species, dorsal view. 34. L. mekrani , lectotype, male (Pakistan, photo by C. Locatelli, Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique). 35. L. mekrani , male (12.2 mm; Iran). 36. L. mekrani , male (12.9 mm; Afghanistan). 37. L. mekrani , female (14.4 mm; Afghanistan). 38. L. modestus , male (11 mm; eastern India). 39. L. modestus , female (12.2 mm; western India). Not to scale. FIGURES 40–46. Genitalia of Lacon species: aedeagus, ventral view (Figs. 40, 41); ovipositor, ventral view (Fig. 42); part of female genital tract, general view (Figs. 43–46). 40. L. mekrani (Afghanistan) . 41. L. modestus (eastern India). 42–44. L. mekrani (Iran; in Fig. 44 viewed from underside). 45. L. nadaii (Iran) . 46. L. modestus (western India). Not to scale. Lacon kurukshetrensis was briefly described from one female from North India , Haryana State ( Vats & Kashyap 1992 ). The description and provided photograph of the specimen almost completely agree with the diagnosis of L. mekrani , so I conclude that Lacon kurukshetrensis is a junior subjective synonym of L. mekrani . This species was recently recorded from North Pakistan ( Platia 2015a ); photographs of the habitus and aedeagus of L. kurukshetrensis given in this article are also identical to those of L. mekrani (specimens from Afghanistan ) ( Fig. 40 ). Lacon mekrani is closely related to L. modestus (Boisduval, 1835) , which is rather widely distributed in the East Palaearctic and the Oriental region and also found in other zoogeographical regions ( Cate et al. 2007 ; Platia 2015a ), but the latter has a distinctly broader, more convex, and shorter body, different position of the carina of the pronotal hind angle, distinct carina-like oblique eminences lateral of the scutellum, while L. mekrani has such eminences rather obsolete, and a different shape of the aedeagus ( Figs. 38, 39 , 41 ). The female genitalia of both species are quite similar and share quite an unusual trait ( Figs. 43, 46 ): the shape of one of the lateral long spines of the large plate inside the bursa copulatrix. This spine has a forked apex, while the other long spines are simply pointed at the apex. A similar structure of the female genitalia is also found in L. nadaii Platia & Németh, 2011 ( Fig. 45 ), but this species has markedly different external morphology ( Platia & Németh 2011 ). In general appearance L. mekrani and L. modestus are also similar to several other species from the East Palaearctic and Oriental region: L. wallacei ( Candèze, 1874 ) , L. cinctus ( Candèze, 1878 ) , L. cognatus ( Candèze, 1892 ) , L. cristatus ( Fleutiaux, 1918 ) , L. distinctus ( Fleutiaux, 1920 ) , L. expansus ( Fleutiaux, 1920 ) , and L. nigrofuscus Vats & Kashyap, 1992 ( Candèze 1874 , 1878 , 1892 ; Fleutiaux 1918 , 1920 , 1947 ; Binaghi 1941 ; Vats & Kashyap 1992 ). All these species have rather convex, oblong or ellipsoidal bodies and more or less developed carina-like oblique eminences lateral of the scutellum; usually these eminences are covered with setae, which differ in color from the rest of the elytral pubescence. The natural affinities of these little-known taxa probably could be revealed after a detailed morphological study, especially of their male and female genitalia.