Lipernes Waterhouse 1879: 9

Kusy, Dominik, Motyka, Michal, Fusek, Lukas, Li, Yun, Bocek, Matej, Bilkova, Renata, Ruskova, Michaela & Bocak, Ladislav, 2021, Sexually dimorphic characters and shared aposematic patterns mislead the morphology-based classification of the Lycini (Coleoptera: Lycidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 191 (3), pp. 902-902 : 902-

Lipernes Waterhouse 1879: 9 .

Type species: Lipernes perspectus Waterhouse, 1879 .

Diagnosis

L i p e r n e s i s s i m i l a r t o Ly c o s t o m u s i n g e n e r a l appearance ( Fig. 7A–O ), and these genera differ in the shape of male genitalia. Lipernes has a robust phallus with simple apex or vertical cleft ( Fig. 7 AA–AR).

Redescription

Adults: Body slender. Head mostly concealed by pronotum, rostrate. Rostrum short to moderately long, often very stout. Pronotum widest at base, with rectangular to slightly projected posterior angles, variable in shape. Elytra without sexual dimorphism, moderately dilated posteriorly in both sexes, with four indistinct costae in each elytron ( Fig. 7A–O, R–U ).

fernandezi (Dugès) , general appearance, male. T, ditto, female. U, Rhyncheros sp. , general appearance, male. V, Rhyncheros loripes (Chevrolat) , general appearance, male. W, Rhyncheros sp. 1 . X, Rhyncheros sp. 3 , male. Y, N. fernandezi , head and prothorax, dorsally. Z, ditto, ventrally. AA, Rhyncheros loripes (Chevrolat) ; head and prothorax, ventrally. AB–AG, male genitalia. AB, N. arizonensis (Green) , ventrally. AC, N. fernandezi (Dugès) , dorsally. AD, ditto, laterally. AE, Rhyncheros sp. 1 , laterally. AF, ditto, ventrally. AG, Rhyncheros sp. 3 , dorsally. Scale bars: 3 mm (A, S, X); 1 mm (C); 0.5 mm (B, D– R, Y–AG).

Male genitalia without any thorns, with membranous ventral part apically; simple apex and in most species dilated basally, with translucent windows at base and ventral sclerotized keel ( Fig. 7 AA–AR).

Distribution

East Palaearctic and Oriental regions ( Fig. 5A ) .

Remarks

The concept of Lycostomus has been very wide and merged all Nearctic, Neotropical, Palaearctic and Oriental Lycini without pronounced sexual polymorphism in the shape of elytra ( Figs 6U–X , 7A–Q ). The Neotropical and Nearctic species have to be transferred from Lycostomus to Rhyncheros . Palaearctic and Oriental species represent two independent lineages and must be placed in redefined Lipernes and Lycostomus . We found that the species of the deeply rooted Asian clade ( Fig. 2 ) have genitalia similar to those of Lipernes perspectus Waterhouse, 1879 . Therefore, we use the name Lipernes for the designation of this clade. Lipernes and Lycostomus occur sympatrically, and they can be distinguished only using male genitalia ( Fig. 7 AA–AR). Their general appearance is similar; most species are red or red and black in colour ( Figs 7A–Z , 8A–O ). The length of the apical palpomere, which was originally used as a diagnostic character, is variable in Lipernes , as has been noted already by Kazantsev (1993).

Figures

Figure 2. The distribution and alpha diversity of the Lycini as defined until the present analysis.

Figure 5. A, the revised distribution of genera and their alpha diversity. B, the putative dispersal routes recovered by the analysis of the pruned dataset. The grey lines designate dispersal barriers that were never crossed by the Lycini.

Figure 6. Lycus pallidus (F.), male unless stated otherwise. A, general appearance, ventral view. B, apical part of the rostrum, ventral view. C, antenna. D, head, dorsal view. E, prothorax and head, ventral view. F, pronotum, dorsal view. G, meso- and metasternum, ventral view; mesosternum. H, ventral view. I, mesothoracic spiracle with attached trachea. J, abdomen. K, abdomen of Neolycus fernandezi (Dugès), male. L, female terminal ventrite. M, female terminal tergite. N, terminal abdominal segments. O, male genitalia. P, ovipositor. Q, female internal genital duct. R, metatarsus. S, N.

Figure 7. General appearance. A, Lipernes sp. 3, male. B, Lipernes sp. 1, male. C, Lipernes sp. 1, female. D, Lipernes sp. 2, male. E, ditto, female. F, Lipernes sp. 4, male. G, Lipernes sp. 5, male. H, Lipernes sp. 6, male. I, Lipernes sp. 7, male. J, Lipernes sp. 8, male. K, Lipernes sp. 9, male. L, Lipernes sp. 13, male. M, Lipernes sp. 14, male. N, Lipernes sp. 14, male. O,

Figure 8. General appearance. A, Lycostomus sp. 3. B, C, Lycostomus sp. 4. D–F, Lycostomus sp. 12. G, H, Lycostomus sp. 16. I, Lycostomus sp. 18. J, Lycostomus sp. 19. K, L, Lycostomus sp. 8. M, Lycostomus modestus (sp. 13). N, Lycostomus sp. 19. O, pronotum and head, Lycostomus sp. 4. P–R, male genitalia. P, Lycostomus sp. 10. Q, Lycostomus sp. 9. R, Lycostomus sp. 8. Scale bars: 3 mm (A–O); 1 mm (P–R).