Neolucanus pallescens Leuthner, 1885

Qian Zhang, Yang Ge, Yuanyuan Wu & Xia Wan, 2016, Taxonomic notes on some species of Neolucanus Thomson (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) from China, Zoological Systematics 41 (2), pp. 195-206 : 204-205

Neolucanus pallescens Leuthner, 1885 (Figs 19–24, 39–42)

Neolucanus pallescens Leuthner, 1885 . Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., 11: 426, 427.

Length 34.0–45.0 mm (including mandibles). Width 14.0–18.0 mm (Figs 19–24). Surface. Whole dark except for the elytra with longitudinally reddish brown narrow spots near to outer margins. Main surface smooth, small punctures presented on mandibles, the surrounding of eyes; legs with large and dense punctures. Head. Almost rectangular, gloomy, 2.4–2.7 times wider than long. Anterior margin at middle concaved with forming a large, shallow, triangularly frontal depression. Vertex strongly raised. Male mandibles. Straight and thick, about 1.0–1.3 times the length of head in large male. The apex very sharp, curved inwards. A large, upwardly erected sub-apical tooth presented on the upper mandibular margin near to the apex. 7–8 small blunt teeth serrated along the lower mandibular margin. Eyes. Large, little produced, completely divided into the upper and lower part by canthi. Canthi strongly laminated and expanded, broad equilaterally triangular with a sharp apex angle. Post-ocular margins distinctly produced, strongly swollen. Mentum. Almost semicircular, anterior angles rounded, covering with long yellow brown hairs. Labrum. Small and almost triangular in male. Antennae. Club 3-segmented, terminal segment totally pubescent, other 2 segments partially pubescent; scape curved; pedicel almost symmetrical; the 3rd, 4th, 5th segment almost equal, the 7th segment with 4 apical setae. Pronotum. Transverse, much shiny than head; about 2.0 times wider than long, 1.8–2.0 times as long as the length of head. Disc strongly convex. Anterior margin sinuated, gently projected at middle. Front angles blunt. Lateral margins slightly divergent on 4/5 anteriorly, then gently convergent on 1/5 posteriorly and meet the posterior margins. Hind angles sharp. Scutellum. Blunt heart-shape, with several small punctures. Elytra. Shiny, strongly convex, 1.3 times longer than wide; about as wide as that of pronotum at the widest. Mainly dark except the longitudinally reddish brown narrow spots extended from shoulders to the apex close to outer margins. In some specimens, the spots not very distinct, but quite broad, faintly reddish brown (Figs 17–18). Wings. Fully developed. Legs. Long and stout. Front tibiae narrow at base strongly expanded, forked at apex, with 3–4 sharply small lateral teeth; spurs sub-cylindrical and curved. Middle and hind tibiae no lateral tooth presented except for spines at apex. Aedeagus (Figs 39–42). BP slender, about 1.3 times the length of PA; the 2/3 proximal part closed to PA broad and the 1/3 distal part blunt. PA relatively short with almost straight outer margins; the apex blunt rounded from the dorsal and ventral view, but slightly sharp from the lateral view. ML distinctly asymmetric, broad, the left lobe slightly longer than the right one. PES (Fig. 42) very stout, about 2.0 times the total length of BP+PA; mainly outer surface of PES smooth and membranous, covering with short dense dark brown hairs from the middle to the apical part. Female genitalia unknown, no female specimen examined.

Type material exmained. Medium-sized ♂, in MNHN (Figs 19–20), labelled: type (red label, looks quite new) / type! (handwritten) / Neolucanus pallescens leuthn . (handwritten). (This specimen is not the real type. See the “Remarks” below)

Additional material examined. Guangdong, Longmen, Mt. Nankun, 7 August 1983, 1♂, leg. Zhenguang Chen; Kwangtung, S. China, Mt. Loh Fau, Big Peal, 2680 ft., 25 August 1933, 1♂, leg. E. R. Hrkham; Hainan, Mt. Jianfengling, Fenqu Wu, 25 August 1981, 1♂, leg. Shaoying Liang ( SYSUC).

Distribution. China ( Hongkong, Guangdong).

Remarks. Type depository of N. pallescens has been unknown since it published in 1885. Type was a large male, long 42 mm, mandible full-developed with 8 small teeth along the lower margin. A medium-sized male (Figs 19–20) in the MNHN was attached with a handwritten label of “ type ”, which was obviously not consistent with the original description and figure of N. pallescens , especially in body size and mandible, although it belonged to this species. We also tried to search the real type in BMNH and OXUM where might be the potential depositories. So far, we have not found it in the two museums. Since Leuthner gave a clear description and figure of N. pallescens , we could diagnose some materials from Guangdong (Figs 21–24) as this species with the first illustrations of male variations and male genitalia (Figs 39–42).

Funding This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31071954, 31201745) and the Research Fund for Young Scholars, Ministry of Education of China (20103401120006).