Taxonomic notes about the genus Nephelotus Pascoe, 1866 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae)
Author
Vitali, Francesco
Francesco Vitali, National Museum of Natural History, rue Munster 24, L- 2160 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Author
Chemin, Gerard
Gerard Chemin, 450 rue Marcel-Paul, F- 94500 Champigny-sur-Marne, France.
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-05-24
5141
1
79
86
journal article
56759
10.11646/zootaxa.5141.1.7
d4dcbf39-2580-4281-99b3-bbafcfe26739
1175-5326
6577763
975E6424-DB7A-416D-B6E3-7F44741D532E
Paranhammus
vs.
Nephelotus
(
Figs 1–8
)
Breuning (1944
a, b) separated
Paranhammus
from
Nephelotus
on the basis of the following characters:
1) Scape with closed (
Paranhammus
) or open cicatrix (
Nephelotus
)
FIGURES 1–8
. 1.
HOLOTYPE
♀
Anhammus conspersus
J. Thomson, 1865
, habitus (photo: G. Chemin); 2. ditto, labels (photo: G. Chemin); 3.=
HOLOTYPE
=♀
Nephelotus licheneus
Pascoe, 1866
, habitus (photo: BMNH); 4. ditto, labels (photo: BMNH); 5. ♂
Nephelotus conspersus
from Sarawak (photo: BMNH); 6. ditto, labels (photo: BMNH); 7.
HOLOTYPE
♂
Monohammus marcipor
Newman, 1842
, habitus (photo: K. Matsumoto, BMNH); 8. ditto, labels (photo: K. Matsumoto, BMNH).
2) Antennomere III as long as IV (
Paranhammus
) or longer than IV (
Nephelotus
)
3) Mesosternum armed with a rounded tubercle (
Paranhammus
) or unarmed (
Nephelotus
)
4) Pronotal base with three (
Paranhammus
) or two (
Nephelotus
) transverse furrows
Actually, both genera have an open cicatrix, antennomere III about as long as IV, unarmed mesosternum and pronotal base with two large furrows. Only a specimen of Mindanao shows a supplementary incomplete superficial transverse impression between these furrows. Thus, all stated differential characters are untrue.
Monohammus marcipor
and
Nephelotus conspersus
show the same body structure and analogous pattern, differing little in antennal colour (dark brown in
marcipor
and reddish testaceous in
conspersus
) and, maybe, the glabrous spot on the pronotal disc (rhomboidal in
marcipor
and transverse in
conspersus
). Both characters can be considered specific or even subspecific. The taxa are also biogeographically related since
conspersus
and
marcipor
seem to coexist in
Palawan
(
Philippines
). There is no substantial reason to consider them as belonging to different genera; consequently, the following taxonomic changes are proposed.
Nephelotus
Pascoe, 1866
=
Paranhammus
Breuning, 1944
n. syn.
Nephelotus marcipor
(
Newman, 1842
)
n. comb.