Ophionea (s. str.) bhamoensis Bates, 1892

Anichtchenko, Alexander & Sciaky, Riccardo, 2024, Contribution to the knowledge of the Philippines species of the tribe Odacanthini Laporte, 1834 (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Zootaxa 5493 (4), pp. 328-344 : 336-338

Ophionea (s. str.) bhamoensis Bates, 1892

Figure 12

Ophionea (s. str.) bhamoensis Bates, 1892: 380 . Loc. Typ.: Bhamo ( Birmania).

Ophionea bhamoensis sensu Maindron, 1910 , nec Bates, 1892

Ophionea (s. str.) bakeri Dupuis, 1913: 270 . Loc. Typ.: Los Banos, Iles Philippines syn. nov.

Ophionea bhamoensis taiwanensis Terada & Wu, 2014: 19 . Loc. Typ.: Taiwan, Yilan County, Nanao, Tawan River. syn. nov.

Material: 1 ex: “ Cotype ”, “ Bhamo / Birmania / Fea VII 1885 ”, “ Oph. / Bhamoen / sis B. / n. sp.”, “ H.E. Andrewes coll. / B.M.1945-97” ( BMNH); 1 ♂: “ Philippines, Mindoro, Mt. Halcon , X.2013 ” ( DUBC); 1 ♀: “ Philippines. N Luzon, Nueva Vizcaya, Belance, v.2015 ” ( DUBC); 1 ♀: “ Philippines, N Luzon, Ifugao, Banaue, viii. 2015 ” ( DUBC) ; 1 ex: “ San Mariano , Isabela, E Luzon, March 2014 ” ( DUBC) ; 3 ex: “ Sierra Madre , Quirino, E Luzon, Dec. 2014 ” ( DUBC) ; 3 ex: “ Gutalac , Zamboanga del Norte, Mindanao, Dec. 2014 ” ( DUBC) ; 1 ex: “ Roxas , Palawan XI.2020 ” ( RSc) ; 1 ex: “ Manila, Philipp.” ( RSc) ; 2 ex: “ Magara, Roxas , Palawan, XI.2019 ” ( RSc) ; 1 ex: “ San Vicente, Palawan , X.2019 ” ( RSc) ; 1 ex: id, XI.2019 ( RSc) .

Distribution: India, Myanmar, Philippines (Luzon, first citation for Palawan, Mindoro and Mindanao), Taiwan, Vietnam.

Systematic notes: The possible synonymy of O. bakeri Dupuis, 1913 with O. bhamoensis Bates, 1892 , has already been discussed by Baehr (1996) and Terada and Wu (2014). The study of numerous specimens has shown that the two features used to distinguish between these two species are extremely unstable. Baehr (1996) affirms, only on the basis of the original description (admitting that he has not directly seen any specimen of this species), that in O. bhamoensis the anterior white elytral spot is outside the dark fascia, while the posterior spot is included in fascia, while in O. bakeri both spots are at least partly included in dark fascia. In the Cotype of O. bhamoensis examined by us, the posterior spot is only partly included.

The number of discal pores in third interval of elytra should be 5–6 in O. bhamoensis vs three in O. bakeri ( Terada & Wu 2014) , yet, in one specimen from the Philippines that we examined has five discal pores.Additionally, the aedeagus is extremely similar in both species. Therefore, we propose here a new synonymy: Ophionea (s. str.) bhamoensis Bates, 1892 = Ophionea (s. str.) bakeri Dupuis, 1913 junior synonym

Concerning the ssp. taiwanensis , the characters adopted for a subspecific distinction are extremely weak and lay largely within the limits of the intraspecific variation, so we propose the synonymy: Ophionea (s. str.) bhamoensis Bates, 1892 = Ophionea bhamoensis (s. str.) taiwanensis Terada & Wu, 2014 junior synonym

As mentioned by Anagha and Sabu (2024) for O. nigrofasciata Schmidt-Göbel, 1846 as present in the Philippines, in our opinion, should be referred to O. bhamoensis : the distribution listed by these authors for O. nigrofasciata as extremely widespread, not corresponding at all from that given by Baehr (1996). We conclude that this data is extremely doubtful. Thus we redefine O. bhamoensis as certainly distributed only in Myanmar, India ( Anagha & Sabu 2024), Taiwan ( Terada & Wu 2014) and the Philippines.

Figures

FIGURES 11–16. Species of tribe Odacanthini of Philippines. (11)—Ophionea (s. str.) celebensis Baehr, 1996; (12)—Ophionea (s. str.) bhamoensis Bates, 1892; (13)—Ophionea (s.str.) ishiii Habu, 1961; (14)—Ophionea (s. str.) indica (Thunberg, 1784); (15)—Eucolliuris fuscipennis (Chaudoir, 1850); (16)—Polydamasium strandi Liebke, 1938.