Research Article |
Corresponding author: Hong-Zhang Zhou ( zhouhz@ioz.ac.cn ) Academic editor: Astrid Eben
© 2021 Wen-Yuan Duan, Feng-Yan Wang, Hong-Zhang Zhou.
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:
Duan W-Y, Wang F-Y, Zhou H-Z (2021) Two new species of the genus Melixanthus Suffrian (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cryptocephalinae) from China. ZooKeys 1060: 111-123. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1060.70203
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Two new species of the genus Melixanthus Suffrian, 1854 are described from China: M. menglaensis Duan, Wang & Zhou, sp. nov. from Yunnan (also in Vietnam, Tonkin) and M. similibimaculicollis Duan, Wang & Zhou, sp. nov. from Yunnan. Another species, M. rufiventris Pic, 1926, is reported for the first time in China. High-quality color images and line drawings of adult habitus, aedeagus, and other important structures are provided for all three species. The types of the new species are deposited in the collection of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (
Cryptocephalini, distributional records, leaf beetles, new species
The leaf beetle genus Melixanthus Suffrian, 1854 (Chrysomelidae, Cryptocephalini) is mainly distributed in the Oriental region and includes approximately 60 species until now; of these, 11 species are known to occur in China (
The Chinese fauna of the genus was studied by including in a comprehensive study on the family Chrysomelidae (e.g.,
Our present study reports new findings, including the description of two new species of Melixanthus from China.
Dried specimens were relaxed in hot distilled water at 80 ℃ for about 2 h to soften the body and ease dissection. The abdomen was separated with insect pins from the rest of the body, soaked in 10% KOH solution and then in a hot water bath for 15 min to advance the process. After this, specimens were transferred in distilled water to rinse the residual KOH solution off and stop the bleaching process. Afterwards, the aedeagus, spermatheca and rectal sclerites were prepared. The dissected parts were placed into glycerin for observation and measurement with an apochromatic stereomicroscope Zeiss SteREO V12. Color photographs of the adults and genitalia were captured with an Axio Zoom V16 fluorescence stereo zoom microscope and photomontage was performed in Zen 2012 (blue edition) imaging software. Adobe Photoshop CS6 was used in digital post-processing of the color images, and Adobe Illustrator 2020 was used to make the line drawings.
Materials used in this study are from the collection:
Measurements are average values calculated from the values of at least five specimens, or all available specimens in case less than five specimens were available. The following abbreviations are used in the text to indicate the measurements of the specimens:
BL body length (length from the apex of pronotum to the apex of elytra in dorsal view);
BW body width (distance between the humeri, maximal body width);
HL head length (length from occiput to the front apex of mandibles);
HW head width (distance between the outer margin of eyes in frontal view, maximal head width);
PL pronotal length (length from the basal angle to anterior margin, maximal longitudinal length of pronotum);
PW pronotal width (distance of the widest portion of the pronotum);
EL elytral length (length of the maximal elytral length in dorsal view);
AL aedeagus length (length from the apex of aedeagus to the basal margin, maximal aedeagus length);
AW aedeagus width (the maximal width of aedeagus);
SL spermathecal length (length of the maximal spermathecal length, without duct).
Melixanthus intermedius Suffrian, 1854.
Suffrianus Weise, 1895: 58. Type species: Cryptocephalus pumilio Suffrian, 1854.
China: Yunnan Province: Mengla.
Holotype: male, China: Yunnan Province: Mengla, Menglun, II–IV.1979, coll. unknown (
BL = 3.25–3.60 mm, BW = 2.02–2.24 mm, HL = 0.91 mm, HW = 0.91 mm, PL = 1.08 mm, PW = 2.02 mm, EL = 2.00 mm, AL = 0.87 mm, AW = 0.27 mm, SL = 0.41 mm.
Body (Fig.
Head (Fig.
Pronotum (Fig.
Elytron (Fig.
Ventral side (Fig.
Aedeagus (Figs
Female. Body more robust than male; spermatheca (Figs
China (Yunnan); Vietnam (Tonkin).
The specific epithet is derived from the name (Pinyin) of the type locality, Mengla.
This species is similar to M. bimaculicollis Baly, 1865, but can be distinguished from that species in having finer punctures on the head, a narrower pronotum, an impunctate scutellum, and fine puncture rows on the elytra, whereas M. bimaculicollis has the elytra with distinct punctures and a surrounded by dark ring; its claws are not toothed (Fig.
China: Yunnan Province: Cheli.
Holotype: male, China: Yunnan Province: Cheli, 9.III.1957, coll. Fuji Pu (
BL = 2.55–2.82 mm, BW = 1.57–1.73 mm, HL = 0.82 mm, HW = 0.85 mm, PL = 0.90 mm, PW = 1.62 mm, EL = 1.81 mm, AL = 0.91 mm, AW = 0.34 mm, SW = 0.39 mm.
Body (Fig.
Head with sparsely pubescence, without punctures, flattened in midline, and with longitudinal shallow groove on frons. Eyes kidney-shaped, deeply emarginated; antennal insertions about equally separated with superior eye-lobes. Clypeus trapeziform, anterior margin concave, without punctures. Antennae (Fig.
Pronotum (Fig.
Elytra (Fig.
Ventral side smooth, partly clothed with pubescence. Prosternum (Fig.
Aedeagus (Figs
Female. Body more robust than male; spermatheca (Fig.
China (Yunnan).
The specific epithet is derived from the Latin terms simili-, bi-, maculi- and collis, to indicate the new species near to M. bimaculicollis.
The new species is similar to M. bimaculicollis Baly, 1865, but can be distinguished from it by the smaller body size; head and scutellum without any punctures; slightly narrower pronotum; elytra with finer punctures, and only basal part punctures surrounded by dark ring; basal margin of prosternum (Fig.
China: Hunan province: 3 males, 6 females, Shimen country, Hupingshan town, Wangyue lake, 29.93222°N, 110.7776°E, 248 m, 11.X.2014, coll. Jian Yao (
BL = 2.65–2.93 mm, BW = 1.64–1.80 mm, HL = 0.75 mm, HW = 0.80 mm, PL = 0.92 mm, PW = 1.73 mm, EL = 1.92 mm, AL = 0.64 mm, AW = 0.20 mm.
China (Hunan); Vietnam.
We thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions. This study was supported in part by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China (no. 2019HJ2096001006) and by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2015FY210300). Insect Diversity Observation Network of Sino BON (CAS, China) provided assistances with field investigations. We also want to thank Ms Liang Su (Beijing, China) for her help in preparing some line drawing plates.