Praocis bicostata Philippi & Philippi, 1864

Flores, Gustavo E. & Pizarro-Araya, Jaime, 2012, Systematic revision of the South American genus Praocis Eschscholtz, 1829 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Part 1: Introduction and subgenus Praocis s. str., Zootaxa 3336, pp. 1-35 : 32

Praocis bicostata Philippi & Philippi, 1864

Praocis bicostata Philippi & Philippi, 1864: 341 ; Gemminger & Harold, 1870: 1905 (cat.); Philippi, 1887: 731 (cat.); Gebien, 1910: 260 (cat.); Gebien, 1938: 398 (cat.); Blackwelder, 1945: 522 (cat.); Kulzer, 1958: 21 (rev.); Peña, 1966: 430 (cat.); Vidal & Guerrero, 2007: 73.

Note. Kulzer (1958) examined the unique type (female) of P. bicostata and stated that this type was in the MNNC, but is not there currently ( Camousseight 1980 and pers. obs.), nor was it in the other museums from which we borrowed material. Kulzer (1958) considered this species very closely related to P. spinolai and established few differences between both (see below), possibly an atypical individual of P. spinolai , which he could not ascertain from a single individual (the type). According to the key by Kulzer (1958), it seems that the major difference between P. spinolai and P. bicostata is given by the number of grooves bearing scaly setae on each elytron: P. b i c o s t a t a has only one (the outer one) whereas P. s p i n o l a i has three or four ( Fig. 22 ). In this revision we examined few specimens of P. spinolai glabrous, with grooves but lacking scaly setae ( LEULS, IADIZA). P. spinolai exhibits a great variation in the number of carinae and grooves with or without scaly setae but without examining the type we cannot judge P. bicostata as synonymous with P. s p i n o l a i. We present the redescription of P. bicostata by Kulzer (translated from German by Christian Maus):

“Of this species, I only know the type, a female. Very closely related to P. s p i n o l a i. Black with a slight metallic shine, oval, quite strongly convex. Legs dark brown, antennae a bit lighter. Length: 12 mm, width: 7 mm. Head and pronotum as in P. s p i n o l a i, punctuation of the pronotum a bit finer. Elytra apically more rounded, largest width behind the middle, lateral edge fine and well visible in dorsal view, evenly convex, with two very shallow and indistinct carinae which end in front of the apex and which are merged in the first quarter of the elytron and thus do not reach its base. The inner carina is more distant from the suture than in P. s p i n o l a i. The lateral furrow is narrow and covered with small, light grey scales, and is basally split until two thirds of its length. Prosternum and underside as in P. s p i n o l a i, but slightly lighter colored. Described from Illapel. P. bicostata is very closely related to spinolai , possibly even an atypical individual of that species, which I cannot assert from the single individual available to me”.

Figures

FIGURES 21 − 26. Habitus in dorsal view. 21. Praocis (Praocis) elliptica; 22. P. (P.) spinolai; 23. P. (P.) medvedevi sp. nov., holotype; 24. P. (P.) aenea; 25. P. (P.) tibialis; 26. P. (P.) parva.