Cis chinensis Lawrence, 1991

Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano, 2008, The first record of Cis chinensis Lawrence from Brazil, with the delimitation of the Cis multidentatus species-group (Coleoptera: Ciidae), Zootaxa 1755, pp. 35-46 : 36-41

Report of Cis chinensis Lawrence, 1991 from Brazil ( Figures 1–6 , 10–15 )

Specimens examined. Brazil: 38 specimens (2 ANIC, 2 FMNH, 30 LAPC, 2 SMNS, 2 SMTD) labeled / BRASIL: MG Ipatinga; “R. Potássio, B. Imbaúbas”; 20.vii.2006 T. Nolasco & C. Lopes-Andrade leg./; 2ɗɗ / BRASIL: MG Ipatinga; 22-27.xii.2007 leg. T. Nolasco & C. Lopes-Andrade / ex Schizophyllum commune [handwritten]/.

Comments. The first collected Brazilian specimens of C. chinensis were found among the remainders of fruiting bodies of an unidentified bracket fungus. The fungus developed in a piece of dead tree-trunk left in a street of Ipatinga (in the state of Minas Gerais, Southeast Region of Brazil; Fig. 15 ). It is unknown whether this tree-trunk belonged to a tree that had been growing at the place or it had been brought from elsewhere. In the second record from Ipatinga, a male was found in fruiting bodies of Schizophyllum commune , together with Ennearthron victori Lopes-Andrade & Zacaro , a yet unidentified ciid species, and several larvae. I left the larvae in the same fruiting bodies and, after some weeks, several male and female adults of Enn. victori and Cis chinensis were observed in the fungi, showing that both species breed in Schizophyllum commune .

Ipatinga is an extremely urbanized area. The county suffered an intense deforestation process since 1922, with the beginning of intense wood exploitation. In 1934, a steelworks acquired the lands to explore wood for the production of wood coal, giving rise to a small village. However, until the end of the 50’s, the total number of inhabitants was just around 300 people. At the beginning of the 60’s, the population jumped to near 10,000 inhabitants, due to the construction of a large steelworks complex. Nowadays, Ipatinga has near 230,000 inhabitants: a drastic example of land occupation, exploitation and urbanization. During this process, the original forest was almost completely removed, and so the original Ciidae assemblage would have been almost vanished.

Since the 1970s, there has been an effort to enhance the tree covering at Ipatinga and there are now several reforested patches. As a consequence, a new Ciidae fauna might have established in the county. Besides C. chinensis , few ciid species were collected in Ipatinga until now: Ceracis cornifer (Mellié) ; Cis gumiercostai Almeida & Lopes-Andrade ; Ennearthron victori ; and a fourth, still unidentified, ciid species (probably belonging to Cis ). The former three species are usually found in urban areas or natural open habitats, as Cerrado vegetation ( Almeida & Lopes-Andrade 2004; Lopes-Andrade & Zacaro 2003a; Lopes-Andrade pers. obs). A robust hypothesis for the introduction of C. chinensis in Ipatinga is via the importation of Asian products infested by the species. The importation of such products may be common, mainly due to the cultural influence of Asiatic immigrants (mainly Japanese) inhabiting the county since its foundation. Notably, on both occasions that C. chinensis was collected in Ipatinga, it was found near a Chinese restaurant. Lohse & Reibnitz´s (1991) report of C. multidentatus from Hamburg ( Germany) was also based on specimens found in a Chinese restaurant.

Some features not mentioned in the original description of C. chinensis are worth mentioning here. The female terminalia ( Fig. 14 ) of the Brazilian specimens of C. chinensis have the gonocoxites transversely divided in three parts, the distal gonocoxites being almost twice as long as the two basal gonocoxites together. Each distal gonocoxite has a slender gonostylus at apex, and each proximal gonocoxite has a small transverse basal baculum. The paraprocts are just slightly longer than the gonocoxites and gonostyli together, and are sustained by a pair of longitudinal baculi. The spiculum ventrale is as long as the whole terminalia. In the case of C. chinensis , each distal gonocoxite seems to be the fusion of two apical gonocoxites, as can be speculated while comparing it to the female terminalia of other ciids (see Lopes-Andrade 2007a, b) or even to other tenebrionoid beetles ( Tanner 1927; Tschinkel & Doyen 1980). I dissected several males from Ipatinga and could observe two elongate follicles per testis, each follicle being distinctly longer than the abdomen and almost as long as the body. Males of the other species of Cis Latreille that I have examined until now (around 30 species) all have three follicles per testis, always shorter than the abdomen.

The male genitalia ( Fig. 13 ) of the Brazilian C. chinensis are similar to that described by Lawrence (1991) for C. chinensis , and by Lohse and Reibnitz (1991) for C. multidentatus . The tegmen has the apex modified into three lobes, the median one more produced forwards than the lateral ones. The penis is cylindrical, slightly smaller than the tegmen.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Map showing Ipatinga (circle, county name underlined), in the state of Minas Gerais (Southeast Region), the unique locality where Cis chinensis Lawrence, 1991, has been collected in Brazil. Other counties named on the map as reference.

FIGURES 1 – 3. Male of Cis chinensis Lawrence, 1991, from Ipatinga, southeastern Brazil. 1. Dorsal view. 2. Lateral view. 3. Ventral view.

FIGURES 4 – 9. Two “ species ” of the multidentatus group. 4 – 6. Cis chinensis Lawrence, 1991. Dorsal view of the pronotum and part of the head of a male from Ipatinga (4), a female from Ipatinga (5), and a male paratype from China (6). 7 – 9. Cis multidentatus (Pic, 1917). Dorsal view of the pronotum and part of the head of a male from Malta (7), a small male from Germany (8), and the abdomen of a male from Germany (9) showing the fovea at the first abdominal ventrite (arrow).

FIGURES 10 – 14. Cis chinensis Lawrence, 1991, from Ipatinga (Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil). 10. Antenna. 11. Anterior tibia of male (A) and female (B). Note that the tooth at the outer apical angle is bigger in male than in female (arrows). 12. Eighth sternite of male. 13. Male genitalia, showing the tegmen (teg) and the penis (pen). The big arrows are pointing the membranous apex of the penis, and the small arrows are pointing the apical margin of the tegmen. Ninth segment not shown. 14. Female terminalia, showing the gonostyli (gs), gonocoxites (gc), baculi of basal gonocoxites (small arrows), paraprocts (pp), baculi of paraprocts (b. pp), proctiger (pt) and its apex (big arrow pointing the dashed line), and baculi of proctiger (b. pt). Note that the gonocoxites (gc) are transversely divided in three parts. Spiculum ventrale not shown.