Debus shoreae (Stebbing)

Beaver, R. A., Sittichaya, W. & Liu, L-Y., 2014, A Synopsis of the Scolytine Ambrosia Beetles of Thailand (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), Zootaxa 3875 (1), pp. 1-82 : 44

83. Debus shoreae (Stebbing)

Tomicus shoreae Stebbing, 1907: 39 .

Xyleborus shoreae (Stebbing) : Hulcr, 2010: 109 (as synonym of Debus fallax (Eichhoff)) .

Thai distribution: N: Chiang Mai, Tak; S: Nakhon Sri Thammarat ( Schedl 1936a as Xyleborus fallax ).

New records: Chiang Mai, Pong Yaeng NP, 900 m, vii.2005 (J. Hulcr et al.) (9); Tak, Umphang Distr., Thung Yai WS, Song Bae stream, 15 o 28' N, 98 o 48' E, 300 m, evergreen rain forest, 18–27.iv.1988 (M. J. D. Brendell) (2).

Other distribution: India, Indonesia (Java, Sumatera), Malaysia (E. & W.). The species also occurs in China (Guanxi) and Laos (R. A. Beaver, unpublished records). Intercepted in Japan from timber imported from East Malaysia and Indonesia. (4)

Taxonomy: Schedl (1954b) corrected his Thai record of this species as Xyleborus fallax ( Schedl 1936a) . The species is considered to be a synonym of Debus fallax (see above) by Hulcr (2010), but we consider it to be sufficiently morphologically distinct to be retained as a separate species. D. shoreae can be distinguished from D. fallax by the following characters ( D. shoreae characters given first): body length 3.0– 3.5 mm vs 2.4–2.9 mm; pronotal disc strongly, more coarsely punctured vs pronotal disc very finely punctured; elytral declivity with the suture not raised, impunctate except for a single row of punctures running from the upper margin to the inner margin of the second declivital spine and thence to the apical emargination vs elytral declivity with the suture weakly raised and weakly rugulose on each side, the face with irregularly placed punctures in addition to the single row present in D. shoreae ; apical emargination rather shallow, distinctly wider than deep vs apical emargination as wide as deep or deeper than wide. Studies of the DNA of these and related species are needed.

Biology: Polyphagous, possibly with a preference for Dipterocarpaceae ( Beeson 1930, 1961). The gallery system resembles that of D. emarginatus (see above).

Illustrations: D ( Maiti & Saha 2004).