Synonymies, transferences, redescriptions and new species in Lamiinae (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae)
Author
Santos-Silva, Antonio
E-mail: toncriss @ uol. com. br
Author
Nascimento, Francisco E. De L.
E-mail: eribnascimentofl @ gmail. com
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-08-27
4462
2
192
210
journal article
22656
10.11646/zootaxa.4462.2.2
bcd5bcbf-c545-4df9-99fb-0e9a6ae4ec96
1175-5326
3769955
2631C2FA-7A4E-49A5-9239-F1DA26743AD4
ACANTHODERINI
On the differences between
Psapharochrus
Thomson, 1864
, and
Acanthoderes
Audinet-Serville, 1835
Although it is beyond the scope of this work to provide a synopsis of the genera of
Acanthoderini
, we need to provide some comments on the differences among some genera in order to explain the allocation of two species currently in
Psapharochrus
.
Thomson (1864)
included
Psapharochrus
Thomson, 1864
,
Symperasmus
Thomson, 1864
, and
Acanthoderes
Audinet-Serville,
1835
in his “4
e
Division—Acanthoderitae Verae”, characterized by him as follows (translated): “Frons wide; procoxal cavities rounded or slightly angulate sideward; femora clavate; tarsi short, protarsi in male widened and setose.” In the same work, he included
Scythropopsis
Thomson,
1864
in his “5
e
Division— Onychoceritae”, defined as follows (translated): “Frons wide; antennae short, usually shorter than body, usually distinctly decreasing from antennomere IV; procoxal cavities “vel vix extus” [incomplete sentence], or angulate sideward; tibiae (especially protibiae) widened and nearly flattened; protarsi in male widened and setose.”
Additionally,
Thomson (1864)
separated his 4
th
and 5
th
divisions based on the granulation of the eyes (size of the ommatidia) (translated): “Eyes barely coarse, or finely granulate”, leading to
Psapharochrus
,
Acanthoderes
, and
Symperasmus
; “Eyes small, very finely granulate”, leading to
Scythropopsis
. Curiously, the position of the alternative of couplet is confused and makes no sense: Definition of the 4
th
Division, first option of the dilemma, genera included in the 4
th
Division, second option of the dilemma, definition of the 5
th
Division, and genera included in the 5
th
Division. Notwithstanding, the granulation of the eyes in
Acanthoderes
and
Scythropopsis
is identical (very fine) and not as in
Psapharochrus
and
Symperasmus
(coarser).
Lacordaire (1872)
considered
Symperasmus
as a synonymy of
Psapharochrus
.
Gemminger (1873)
included
Psapharochrus
,
Symperasmus
and
Scythropopsis
as synonyms of
Acanthoderes
.
Aurivillius (1923)
listed
Aegomorphus
Haldeman, 1847
,
Pardalisia
Casey, 1913
,
Psapharochrus
,
Scythropopsis
, and
Symperasmus
as subgenera of
Acanthoderes
. The species of
Pardalisia
,
Scythropopsis
and
Symperasmus
were listed by
Aurivillius (1923)
in
A.
(
Psapharochrus
), with the following commented (translated): “For the time being, it is impossible to distribute the species among these sub-genera, which have so far been insufficiently characterized.”
Monné (1994b)
and
Monné & Giesbert (1994)
, followed
Aurivillius (1923)
, but listed each species in the respective subgenus of
Acanthoderes
.
Tavakilian & Néouze (2013)
described
Scythropopsis boucheri
from
French Guiana
. Accordingly, these authors considered
Scythropopsis
as a distinct genus, but did not provide any explanation.
Monné (2018)
still considered
Scythropopsis
as a subgenus of
Acanthoderes
.
As it is possible to see, the status and position of
Acanthoderes
,
Psapharochrus
,
Symperasmus
, and
Scythropopsis
has been chaotic, with authors synonymizing, revalidating, and changing the status without any explanation. Thus, to establish a point, we prefer to consider the later position in
Monné (2018)
:
Acanthoderes
(
Acanthoderes
)
;
A.
(
Scythropopsis
);
A.
(
Symperasmus
);
A.
(
Pardalisia
); and
Psapharochrus
.
Apart from those controversial classifications, it was
Lacordaire (1872)
who provided the best feature to separate
Psapharochrus
(
Fig. 1
) (including
Symperasmus
(
Fig. 5
) as a synonym) from
Acanthoderes
(
Acanthoderes
)
(
Fig. 2
) and
A.
(
Scythropopsis
) (
Fig. 3
). The former was included among the genera with eyes coarsely or sub-coarsely granulated, while the two latter were included among the genera with eyes finely granulated.
Thomson (1864)
also used this feature, but as seen above,
Acanthoderes
was incorrectly included among the genera with eyes not very finely granulated.
As the eyes in
Symperasmus
are not finely granulated, it makes no sense to include it as a subgenus of
Acanthoderes
. We prefer not to make any taxonomic change in this work regarding the placement of
Symperasmus
, but we believe that
Lacordaire (1872)
was right:
Symperasmus
is apparently a synonym of
Psapharochrus
.
The features pointed out by
Casey (1913)
separating
Pardalisia
(which has eyes very finely granulated (
Fig. 4
)) from
Acanthoderes
are not useful, and partially not true. For example, according to
Casey (1913)
, the mesosternal process is “wholly devoid of tubercles” in
Pardalisia
, but according to
Chemsak & Hovore (2002)
, the mesoventral process in
Acanthoderes
(
Pardalisia
)
amplifrons
Chemsak & Hovore, 2002
is “vaguely tuberculate at sides.” It is true that
Chemsak & Hovore (2002)
did not include their new species in subgenera, but they compared
A.
(
P.
)
amplifrons
with
A. lacrymans
(Thomson, 1865)
and
A. funeraria
Bates, 1861
, suggesting the allocation. Also, according to
Casey (1913)
, the elytra in
Pardalisia
are “together circularly rounded and perfectly entire at apex.” However, the elytral apex in
A.
(
P.
)
amplifrons
and
A.
(
P.
)
lacrymans
is truncate the latter included in
A.
(
Pardalisia
) by Monné & Hovore (1994) and
Monné (1994b)
. It is likely that
Pardalisia
is a synonym of
Acanthoderes
, but a detailed study of the species currently in these genera (and subgenera) is necessary to confirm this synonymy.
FIGURES 1–5
. Head showing granulation of eyes in the type species:
1
,
Psapharochrus cylindricus
(Bates, 1861)
, male;
2
,
Acanthoderes
(
Acanthoderes
)
daviesii
(Swederus, 1787)
, male;
3
,
Acanthoderes
(
Scythropopsis
)
albitarsis
Laporte, 1840
, male;
4
,
Acanthoderes
(
Pardalisia
)
funeraria
Bates, 1861
, female; 5,
Acanthoderes
(
Symperasmus
)
thoracica
White, 1855
, male.
At this point, only
Acanthoderes
(
Acanthoderes
)
and
Acanthoderes
(
Scythropopsis
)
need to be differentiated.
According to
Lacordaire (1872)
, they can be separated as follows (translated):
1 Elytra entirely smooth........................................................................
Acanthoderes
- Elytra with distinct carina....................................................................
Scythropopsis
”
Additionally, according to
Lacordaire (1872)
, the lower eye lobes are large in
Acanthoderes
and small in
Scythropopsis
. This additional difference is true, at least in the
type
species of each genus. The elytral carina in some species currently placed in
Acanthoderes
(
Acanthoderes
)
is absent or nearly so, and reaches from the basal quarter to beyond middle, or is distinct from base to outer apex. As there are species with small lower eye lobes and elytral carina complete from base to apex, as well as species with large lower eye lobes and elytral carina surpassing the middle of the elytra, it is not possible, for now, to establish the limits between these two genera/ subgenera. Accordingly,
Scythropopsis
is provisionally kept as a subgenus of
Acanthoderes
, although probably all species with lower eye lobes distinctly smaller than gena and elytral carina complete from base to outer apex belong to
Scythropopsis
(and it may be considered as a distinct genus), and all species with lower eye lobes longer or about as long as gena and elytra carina not reaching outer apex belong to
Acanthoderes
.
As
Psapharochrus abstersus
(
Bates, 1880
)
, and
Psapharochrus pupillatus
(
Bates, 1880
)
, have eyes very finely granulated, lower eye lobes distinctly shorter than gena, and elytral carina distinct from base to outer apex, they should be transferred to
Acanthoderes
(
Scythropopsis
)
.
Acanthoderes
(
Scythropopsis
)
boucheri
, apparently, has the eyes not finely granulated. If so, it cannot be a true
Acanthoderes
. As we do not have specimens of this species, we cannot correctly allocate it.
We understand that all these comments are not conclusive, but we believe that they are necessary, especially to draw attention to the need for a thorough review of
Acanthoderes
and
Psapharochrus
. After several problematic conclusions about these genera by previous authors, we prefer to not propose any synonymies and/or new ranks involving these genera without a detailed study of their species, even seeing that, evidently, there are several species that are incorrectly allocated. Furthermore, it will be necessary to verify other genera of
Acanthoderini
, as for example
Aegomorphus
Haldeman, 1847
, which belongs to this complex of genera.
In summary:
1.
Symperasmus
—probably a synonym of
Psapharochrus
, but, at least, it must be considered a subgenus of
Psapharochrus
.
2.
Pardalisia
—probably a synonym of
Acanthoderes
;
3.
Scythropopsis
—probably a genus distinct from
Acanthoderes
;
4. Eyes very finely granulated—
Acanthoderes
(
Acanthoderes
)
;
A.
(
Pardalisia
);
A.
(
Scythropopsis
).
5. Eyes coarsely or moderately coarsely granulated—
Psapharochrus
;
A.
(
Symperasmus
).