﻿The collection of the genus Epepeotes Pascoe, 1866 housed in the Natural History Museum, London (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae)

﻿Abstract Data on the collection of the genus Epepeotes Pascoe, 1866 deposited in the Natural History Museum, London are presented. A total of 23 species/subspecies, including type specimens of 18 names, of them 13 valid, are recorded. Epepeotesuncinatuslineatopunctatus Breuning, 1960 is restored to subspecies-level status. Lectotypes are designated for Epepeotesuncinatusuncinatus Gahan, 1888 and Epepeotesandamanicus Gahan, 1893. Epepeotesluscusluscus (Fabricius, 1787) is newly recorded in Cambodia and Singapore, and Epepeotesuncinatusuncinatus Gahan, 1888 is newly recorded in Bangladesh. Images of the type and other significant specimens are provided for 23 taxa, mainly for the first time.

This study is based on the collection of the Natural History Museum, London [formerly British Museum, Natural History (BMNH), and hereafter NHM or NHMUK], which houses 620 categorized specimens (not counting those not sorted) of 23 valid species/subspecies, of which 13 valid taxa and five junior synonyms are represented by type material.A record of all species is given below.

Material and methods
The material examined in this study, already identified by earlier specialists, is deposited in the NHM.Verbatim quotation is used here for all labels of studied ZooKeys 1184: 19-39 (2023), DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1184.111728 Guanglin Xie et al.: The collection of the genus Epepeotes Pascoe, 1866 housed in the NHMUK type specimens and the label text is given in single quotation marks.Labels of non-type specimens are summarized briefly, to provide the reader with information on the country of origin, locality, but more detail, such as acquisition numbers, collector names and month and year of collecting and other information, is generally not reproduced.Individual labels are separated by a semicolon, and data on different rows by a single slash.Additional and explanatory comments by the authors are given in square brackets.Abbreviations are used in the text for label text: h for handwritten, p for printed.In the list, species records are listed in chronological order of publication, different subspecies of the same species are presented together in chronological order.
Photographs were taken using a Canon 7D Mark II SLR camera with a Canon EFS 100 mm lens and edited using Adobe Photoshop 2020 release.Extended depth of field at magnifications was achieved by combining multiple images from a range of focal planes using Combine ZM or Helicon Focus software.

Results
Data on the genus Epepeotes from the collection of the NHM are summarized on the basis of 620 observed specimens.The collection comprises 23 valid taxa, including types of 18 names, of them 13 valid and five invalid.Labeling details of each type specimen are reproduced verbatim without corrections or additions.Some additional information is provided as comments.The list of Epepeotes deposited in the NHM collection is given as follows.Comments.Breuning (1943) stated that the subspecies E. desertus rhobetor is distinguished from the subspecies E. d. desertus by the body usually smaller, the antennae more slender, the body markings yellow, and the elytral spots small and separate, with only a few individuals uniting into narrow transverse bands before and after the middle; the subspecies E. d. obscurus is separated from the nominate subspecies by the elytron with less concave apex and reduced body markings.However, the holotype of E. d. rhobetor (Fig. 1d) has the complete premedian transverse band and the postmedian band consisting of several large spots that are not fully fused, which is different from the description and illustration by Breuning (1943).Olivier (1808) illustrated the dorsal view of the species Cerambix fimbriatus Olivier, 1795 (Fig. 1c, now a synonym of the nominate subspecies), which differs from E. d. rhobetor and E. d. obscurus mainly in the large and complete premedian and postmedian transverse bands on the elytra.However, the body markings and size are variable in this species, which make it difficult to accurately distinguish the three subspecies.The taxonomic status of the three subspecies is expected to be resolved by further study of more type and non-type material, perhaps with the possible removal of the subspecies-level status.
Comments.Two specimens from Camboja [Cambodia] (Fig. 2k, l) and 10 specimens from Singapore (Fig. 2m, n) were found in the collection, which represent the new country record respectively.

Epepeotes uncinatus lineatopunctatus
Comments.A female specimen from South India (Fig. 7f, g) was mislabeled with a red-framed circular printed type label in the collection, which represents actually a subspecies of E. uncinatus Gahan, 1888, not the type specimen.Breuning (1960) described the subspecies Epepeotes uncinatus lineatopunctatus, then he (1961) regarded it as a morph of E. uncinatus Gahan.However, this subspecies is distinctly different from the nominate subspecies by the elytron mostly with conspicuous, short, longitudinal black spots, rather than rounded to oblong spots, which are almost united into a long longitudinal strip along the suture, the vertex and pronotum with more expanded median longitudinal strip.On this basis, herein we restore it to subspecies-level status.Non-type material.8 specimens.India (8): Andaman Islands (2 males, 6 females).

Epepeotes andamanicus Gahan, 1893
Comments.One syntype was confirmed in the collection.Herein we designated it as the lectotype (Fig. 8b, c), which has been labeled with a red-framed circular printed label and a handwritten identification label, both marked with 'Type'.Comments.The pale markings on elytra are variable, ranging from occupying most of the elytra to being almost a narrow X-like stripe.