Pectocera Hope, 1842

Liu, Zhen & Jiang, Shi-Hong, 2021, The genus Pectocera Hope, 1842 (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Oxynopterinae) in China, with description of two new species and one new record, Journal of Natural History 55 (3 - 4), pp. 247-270 : 248-249

Pectocera Hope, 1842

Pectocera Hope, 1842: 79 . Type species: Pectocera cantori Hope, 1842 , by subsequent designation Hyslop, 1921. Candèze, 1857: 357; Lacordaire, 1857: 161; Gemmmger et Harold, 1869: 1508; Candèze, 1874: 207; Candèze, 1891: 47; Schwarz, 1906: 54; Fleutiaux, 1918: 201; Schenkling, 1925: 69–70; Fleutiaux, 1927: 110; Miwa, 1929: 239; Miwa, 1934: 16; Fleutiaux, 1941: 38; Fleutiaux,1947: 306; Van Zwaluwenburg, 1959: 365; Ôhira, 1962: 171; Ôhira, 1970: 15; Gurjeva, 1974: 105; Stibick, 1979: 156; Kishii,1987; Jiang et Wang, 1999: 69; Suzuki 1999: 7; Schimmel, 2003: 286; Chakraborty et Chakrabarti, 2006: 151; Cate et al., 2007: 94.

Diagnosis

Body length: 20.0– 32 mm, compressed. Head strongly excavated (♂) or shallowly depressed (♀) medial longitudinally; frontal carina entirely absent; antennal sockets strongly protruding; mandible protruding and strongly incurved; eye bulbus and protruding. Antenna often reach beyond middle parts of body, with 11 or 12 antennmeres, antennae (♂) laminate from 3rd antennmere (excluding apical antennmere) to rarely compressed and dentate or subserrate, which serrate in ♀. Pronotum not wider than elytra. Elytra attenuated, each with a spine at apex. Prosternal sutures narrow, open anteriorly; anterior lobe of prosternum normally arcuate anteriorly. Prosternal process elongate and flat. Mesosternum and metasternum distinct, joined by a definite suture. Mesocoxae open to mesepimeron and mesepisternum. Scutellar shield often shieldshaped, seldom cordate. Metacoxal plate narrowed laterally, broadened inside; tarse simple, without lobes but 3rd and 4th segments may feebly dilated; claws simple, without setae ( Hope 1842; Fleutiaux 1947; Kishii 1987; Jiang and Wang 1999).

Distribution

China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam.

Remarks

Pectocera morphologically resembles Ceropectus Fleutiaux, 1927 , but can be easily distinguished from it by the obvious suture of meso- and metasoma between mid coxae.