Reitterelater

Prosvirov, Alexander S., 2017, On the Ampedini Gistel, 1848 (Coleoptera: Elateridae) of Central Asia, with a description of a new species of the genus Reitterelater Platia & Cate, 1990, Zootaxa 4232 (3), pp. 376-384 : 383

Notes on Reitterelater and allied genera

The genus Reitterelater was originally described for the accommodation of species previously referred to Ectamenogonus sensu auct. (nec. Buysson, 1893) ( Platia & Cate 1990). Later some other species were included in this genus ( Kishii 1998, 1999; Ôhira 2000; Cate et al. 2007; Platia & Schimmel 2 007; Platia 2010). There are some disagreements concerning the validity of Reitterelater , which is synonymized by some authors under Brachygonus Buysson, 1912 ( Chassain 1992; Kubáň 1995; Delnatte et al. 2011). A similar opinion is stated concerning the validity of the monotypic Japanese genus Kometsukia Kishii, 1957 ( Gurjeva 1979a) . I suppose that these suggestions are true of K. vesticornis Kishii, 1957 and R. dubius Platia & Cate, 1990 . These species, according their morphological characters, actually must be regarded as members of Brachygonus ( Kishii 1957; Platia & Cate 1990). However, this is not true of R. fulvus , the type species of the genus Reitterelater .

According to my studies and the published data, R. fulvus is allied with species of the genus Brachygonus , but distinctly differs from them in the shape of the prosternal process and morphology of the larva ( Fig. 5 ; see also Gurjeva 1979b; Dolin & Atamuradov 1994). Moreover, these characters of R. fulvus are more or less similar with characters of many species of Ampedus . The presence of two carinae of the hind angles of the pronotum and the different shape of the female genitalia distinguish R. fulvus from the typical Ampedus , but only the latter character could be regarded as taxonomically important while the shape of the pronotal hind angles is a rather variable character within Elateridae ( Hayek 1973) . All above mentioned statements are also true of R. kovalenkoi sp. nov. Therefore, the exact systematic position of Reitterelater requires further clarification. It is likely that Reitterelater must be reduced in rank to a subgenus of the genus Ampedus , but the taxonomic composition of the former is still not clear, as the morphology of some species of Reitterelater is little-known. It is possible that some of these species actually belong to Ampedus or Brachygonus . On the contrary, some species at present included in Ampedus could likely be members of Reitterelater .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. Habitus of Ampedini species, dorsal (Figs. 1 – 3) and lateral (Figs. 4 – 6) view. 1, 4. Reitterelater kovalenkoi sp. nov., holotype, female (7.1 mm). 2, 5. R. fulvus, female (11.7 mm; Uzbekistan). 3, 6. Ampedus russicus, paratype, female (10.6 mm; Tajikistan). Not to scale.