Cycadophila (Cycadophila) yunnanensis (Grouvelle)

Skelley, Paul, Xu, Guang, Tang, William, Lindström, Anders J., Marler, Thomas, Khuraijam, Jibankumar Singh, Singh, Rita & Rich, Stephen, 2017, Review of Cycadophila Xu, Tang & Skelley (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Pharaxonothinae) inhabiting Cycas (Cycadaceae) in Asia, with descriptions of a new subgenus and thirteen new species, Zootaxa 4267 (1), pp. 1-63 : 40

Cycadophila (Cycadophila) yunnanensis (Grouvelle)

Pharaxonotha yunnanensis Grouvelle 1916: 61 ; Schenkling 1923: 15; Mader 1926: 721; Schenkling 1928: 31; Węgrzynowicz 2007: 536.

Cycadophila yunnanensis (Grouvelle) ; Xu et al. 2015: 20 –23, 25–26 (lectotype designation).

Adult diagnosis. A member of Cycadophila (Cycadophila) nigra species group as discussed above distinguished from related species by its smaller body with or without color pattern, weakly depressed submental-gular region, distinct supraocular stria less than 1/3 length of the eye, and male with small rounded swelling at the middle of the inner mesotibial margin. A full description and images are presented in Xu et al. (2015).

Type locality. Yunnan, China.

Range. Known from Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, China , Manipur state, India and Laos .

Material examined. Lectotype, 5 paralectotypes and other specimens as discussed in Xu et al. (2015). Others examined: CHINA, Yunnan Province, Guanping Reserve , 22°10'N, 110°50'E, 10 May 1996, W. Tang, ex spent ♂ strobilus of Cycas dolichopylla [ Cycas sp. aff. collina ], WT 44 (4) ; LAOS, Houphan Province, Viengxay Ds., Vieng Xai vill., 20°23′41″ N, 104°13′44″ E, 7-IV-2015, N. T. Hiep, L. Averyanov, N. S. Khang, N. Q. Hieu, T. Maisak, Somneux (7). These additional materials examined are deposited at ANIC and FSCA .

Remarks. Xu et al. (2015) detected large numbers of adults of this species in male cones of Cycas debaoensis that had finished shedding their pollen. However, no larvae of the species was detected, suggesting that this species is an opportunistic visitor that does not reproduce in male Cycas cones and that it may feed and reproduce in alternative hosts. DNA analysis of the 16S rRNA gene suggests a complex of three cryptic species (see Fig. 1 ). Three color morphs can be discerned, but none are confined to any of the three haplotypes detected. Unfortunately, our morphological analyses have not yielded any other characters to support that more than one species is present. For now, C. yunnanensis is considered to be a variably colored species occurring in southern China, northern Laos and northeast India that needs more detailed work. See Remarks under C. vittata and the Remarks of C. yunnanensis in Xu et al. (2015) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogenetic tree based on maximum likelihood analysis of 16 S rRNA gene sequences of four species of New World Pharaxonotha and ten species of Asian Cycadophila. Scale bar indicates base pair substitutions per nucleotide position; numbers on the branches of the trees are bootstrap values.