Revision of the West Indian Wattius Kaszab (Tenebrionidae, Toxicini, Eudysantina) with lectotype designations for Pascoe's South American species
Author
Smith, Aaron D.
Author
Sanchez, Lucio A.
text
ZooKeys
2015
537
111
130
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.537.6115
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.537.6115
1313-2970-537-111
009AB4F21C7D411693C3903D051E809D
009AB4F21C7D411693C3903D051E809D
Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Tenebrionidae
Wattius asperulus (Pascoe)
new status
Figures 5-6
Calymmus asperulus
Pascoe, 1871: 350
Type material.
LECTOTYPE, here designated, (male) labeled: on pink oval (a)
"Colombia"
; (b) "
Calymmus
/
asperulus
/ Type Pasc"; (c) on white circle with orange border
"Type"
; (d) "Pascoe. / Coll. / 93
-60."
; (e) on blue paper "Tenebrionid Base / Aaron D. Smith / Catalog # 14322"; (f) on red paper, "LECTOTYPE /
Calymmus
/
asperulus
Pascoe / det. ADSmith 2015" (BMNH).
Additional material examined.
Two specimens, both from Colombia. One female labeled
"P'to
. Berrio / Ant. Colomb" (FMNH) and one male labeled
"Colombia"
(HNHM).
Diagnosis.
Wattius asperulus
can be separated from
Wattius cucullatus
and the West Indian members of the genus based on the following character combination: Frontoclypeal suture strongly incised, frons shallowly depressed anterior to eyes and raised into near vertical ridge above eyes to cranial apex; pronotal horn strongly produced, apex expanded and spatulate in males, prosternal process raised behind coxae; wings fully developed, meso- and metacoxae separated by more than mesocoxal width; femora lacking smooth rounded callosities; outer margins of tibia flat with two indistinct rows of callosities, apical spine present on all tibia in males, all male femora lacking rounded protuberances.
Discussion.
Wattius asperulus
was synonymized under
Wattius cucullatus
by
Champion (1886)
.
Champion's
rationale was that the separation between
Wattius cucullatus
and
Wattius asperulus
could not be maintained based on the variability displayed in the specimens, which ranged from Mexico to Argentina, available to him. However, a large series of BMNH specimens identified as
Wattius cucullatus
by Champion, and corresponding to many of the localities listed in the Biologia Centrali-Americana, represents an estimated seven
Wattius
species that are only now being described (Smith in prep.).