Research Article |
Corresponding author: Zhao Pan ( panzhao86@yeah.net ) Academic editor: Warren Steiner
© 2018 Zhao Pan, Guodong Ren, Marco A. Bologna.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Pan Z, Ren G, Bologna MA (2018) Longizonitis, a new nemognathine genus from the Himalayas (Coleoptera, Meloidae). ZooKeys 765: 43-50. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.765.24395
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The new blister beetle genus Longizonitis Pan and Bologna is described. The genus is referred to the tribe Nemognathini, subfamily Nemognathinae, and its relationships are briefly discussed. It is distributed in southern China (Yunnan, SE Xizang, and probably Fujian) and India (Uttarakhand), in a transitional area between the Palaearctic and Oriental regions. The type species, Longizonitis semirubra (Pic, 1911), comb. n., is re-described and illustrated.
Blister beetles, China, India, new genus, taxonomy
The tribe Nemognathini Laporte de Castelnau, 1840, with approximately 530 described species, belonging to 28 genera, is the second most speciose tribe of Meloidae Gyllenhal, 1810 behind the Mylabrini Rafinesque, 1815 has a cosmopolitan distribution (
During the study of type specimens of Meloidae housed at MNHN, it was discovered that Zonitis semirubra Pic, 1911 (Figs
The following abbreviations used in the text refer to the examined collections:
BMNH Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom;
HBUM Hebei University Museum, Baoding, China;
MNHN Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
Figures of antennal morphological details were drawn by hand, using a Nikon SMZ1500 stereomicroscope equipped with a camera lucida. Photographs of other morphological details were taken using a Leica M205A stereomicroscope equipped with a Leica DFC450 camera which was controlled using the Leica application suite 4.3. Habitus were taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera connected to a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens.
Zonitis semirubra Pic, 1911 (originally described as Zonitis semiruber) by present designation.
From the Latin adjective ‘longus’ and Zonitis. The name refers to the slender shape of body, which differs from that of several other nemognathine genera.
Longizonitis is clearly distinguishable from other nemognathine genera by the following characters: body elongate, length-width ratio distinctly more than 3.5; antennomere II distinctly shorter than III; elytra not reduced in size, only slightly dehiscent apically; tarsal claws with ventral blade narrow, its greatest width slightly more than half the basal width of dorsal blade; female with two metatibial spurs similar in shape and size, male external metatibial spur as in female, inner one stick-liked and only half width of external one; male ventrite VI completely divided, that of female V-emarginate; aedeagus without dorsal hooks, but with two sclerotised ventral lobes, curved posteriad; gonostyli almost completely fused, gonocoxal plate longer than gonostyli.
Head short, subrectangular, head width at temples slightly greater than at eyes, frons not depressed, surface with dense, large and shallow punctures (Fig.
Pronotum wider than long, punctures as on head, slightly more scattered (Fig.
Male ventrite VI deeply cleft to base and completely divided longitudinally (as in fig. 105,
Longizonitis semirubra (Pic, 1911), adult 1 habitus, male, Yadong, Xizang (HBUM) 2 habitus, female, Yadong of Xizang (HBUM) 3 holotype and labels, female, Yunnan (MNHN, photographed by Dr Antoine Mantilleri) 4 head, dorsal view, male 5 antenna, male 6 antenna, female 7 pronotum, dorsal view, male 8–12 male genitalia 8 gonoforceps, ventral view 9 gonoforceps, lateral view 10 aedeagus, lateral view 11 aedeagus, ventral view 12spiculum gastrale. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (4, 7); 1 mm (5, 6, 8–12).
Southern China, northwestern India.
The new genus differs from all known Nemognathinae taxa and shows mixed distribution of character states; for this reason, their relationships remain difficult to define. It clearly belongs to the tribe Nemognathini and not to the Palaestrini Bologna, Turco & Pinto, 2013 or Horiini Latreille, 1802, due to the cylindrical shape of the aedeagus and unmodified mandibles (see
Ventral sclerotised lobes are present in all New World Zonitis, Pseudozonitis Dillon, 1952 and Gnathium Kirby, 1818 species, and some Palaearctic species of Zonitis; however, the short antennomere II is never represented in the American species.
In the new genus, galeae are neither penicillate nor greatly modified, a plesiomorphic condition more similar to that of Nemognathini of the sitarine lineage than that of typical lineage (see
Zonitis semiruber Pic, 1911: 101 (type locality: Yunnan, China; type depository: MNHN); Borchmann, 1917: 164; 1941: 23.
Zonitis semirubra : Hua, 2002: 131.
Zonitis (Zonitis) semirubra : Bologna, 2008: 411.
This species, the only known member of the genus Longizonitis, can be diagnosed by the generic diagnosis given above. Because
Characters of the genus (see above) with the following details. Body (Figs
Head slightly wider than long (from fronto-clypeal suture to posterior margin of head), with maximum width at level of temples (Fig.
Pronotum slightly wider than head at temples, widest just in front of middle, rounded on sides, distinctly narrowed anteriorly and slightly posteriorly; two bulging areas behind the widest point (Fig.
Male gonoforceps (Fig.
Type. Holotype female, “P. Guerry // Roanne” (white, rectangular, printed), “Yunnan” (white, rectangular, handwritten), “Zonitis n. sp.” (white, rectangular, handwritten), “Z. semiruber Pic” (white, rectangular, handwritten), “TYPE” (red, rectangular, printed, added subsequently) (MNHN; as Fig.
Other specimens. 1 male, 2 females, “2005-7-22 // 西藏亚东 // 石爱民 // 河北大学博物馆 [2005-7-22 // China, Xizang, Yadong // Shi Aimin // Hebei University Museum]” (white, rectangular, printed) (HBUM; as Figs
The holotype and one of the female specimens from Yadong have a dark reddish body colouration that could be caused by the following reasons: 1) the curation and conservation conditions would make the colour change from black to dark reddish over time; 2) these individuals may still be somewhat teneral, and the integument was not completely sclerotized and/or pigmented.
The name of this species was emended as semirubra by
We wish to thank particularly Dr Antoine Mantilleri (MNHN) and Dr Max Barclay (BMNH) for their scientific help during the study period of two of us (ZP, MAB) on collections of Paris and London museums and took the habitus of the type. Thanks to three reviewers, Prof. John D. Pinto (University of California), Dr M. Andrew Johnston (Arizona State University), and Dr Michael Thomas (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services), for constructive comments.
This study was supported by grants from the Construction Foundation for Comprehensive Strength Promotion of Universities in Mid-western China to Hebei University, the Postdoctoral Research Foundation of Hebei Province (No. B2015003007), the Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Application (No. 14967611D), and the National Natural Foundation of China (No. 31572309).