Miccolamia Bates, 1884

Bi, Wen-Xuan, Chen, Chang-Chin & Lin, Mei-Ying, 2025, A revision of the genus Miccolamia Bates from China (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae, Desmiphorini), ZooKeys 1264, pp. 1-35 : 1-35

Genus Miccolamia Bates, 1884

Miccolamia Bates, 1884: 253. Type species: Miccolamia cleroides Bates, 1884, designated by Breuning 1975: 52.

Miccolamia : Gressitt 1951: 518, 533; Breuning 1963: 490; Breuning 1975: 52; Tsherepanov 1991: 39; Hasegawa and N. Ohbayashi 2001: 2; Hasegawa 2007: 313, 316, 619; Lin and Yang 2019: 260.

Description.

Body small to minute in size ( 2.2–5.3 mm long), cylindrical. Head, antennae, pronotum, and elytra bearing more or less scattered, long, suberect setae (or bristles), denser on inner side of several basal flagellomeres; pronotal and elytral setae typically dark-colored, arising from deep umbilicate punctures.

Head with frons transverse, usually convex; gena inflated; vertex flattened to medially impressed, with or without a median groove; surface smooth or rough; antennal tubercles widely separated. Eyes large, moderately to deeply emarginated; lower eye lobes vertical, generally slightly longer than gena. Antennae slender to stout, usually subequal to body length; scape fusiform to clavate; pedicel distinctly longer than wide; antennomere III longer than scape, usually subequal to or slightly longer than IV, antennomeres IV – X gradually shorter.

Pronotum elongated to weakly transverse; anterior margin as wide as head, distinctly wider than posterior margin, both margins typically lined with one transverse groove (sometimes indistinct or absent); lateral tubercles variably developed, apices acute to subacute, slightly directed upward; disk smooth to rugose, weakly to strongly convex, sometimes with two or three more or less distinct tubercles (or swellings). Scutellum more or less tongue-shaped.

Elytra length usually> 2 × their maximum width, weakly to strongly dilated beyond midlength, apices separately or conjointly rounded; humeri usually broadly rounded, each bearing a variably developed small subacute to obtuse protrusion pointing posterodorsally. Each elytron usually bearing a large subbasal elongate-oval tubercle near suture (seldom it is absent), rarely additionally with several small tubercles (or swellings) scattered mainly on apical half (Figs 27–40 ); disk with more or less distinct setigerous punctures forming at most seven rows. Sutural and marginal costae well developed.

Legs with femora clavate; meso- and metatibiae distinctly thickened externally near apical 1 / 3 or 1 / 4, followed by a deep sinus bordered by dense long setae; protibiae with similar but weaker structure, lacking setae. Tarsi pseudotetramerous; tarsal claws appendiculate or simple (Figs 41–43 ).

Distribution.

China, Japan, India, Vietnam, Laos, Nepal, Thailand.

Remarks.

Hasegawa (2007) distinguished Miccolamia from other Japanese genera of Apodasyini (now Desmiphorini ) by two key features, i. e., setose elytra and presence of an external subapical sinus on meso- and metatibiae. These characters are probably also sufficient to distinguish this genus from other potential relatives in Asia. However, the Southeast Asian genus Phlyarus Pascoe, 1858 also possesses these characters. Breuning (1975) attempted to separate Miccolamia from Phlyarus based on femora being “ claviform ” rather than “ pedunculate. ” Yet, detailed comparison of holotype images of several Phlyarus species with Miccolamia specimens reveals no definitive differences in leg morphology, leaving the taxonomic relationship between these genera unresolved.

Breuning (1975) initially divided Miccolamia into three subgenera, later modified by Hasegawa and N. Ohbayashi (2001). Therein, they defined the nominotypical subgenus by the apical half of elytra strongly dilated and each tarsal claw provided with distinct appendage (Fig. 41 ). In contrast, M. ( Isomiccolamia) K. Ohbayashi, 1963 was characterized by having the lateral side of elytra almost parallel or slightly dilated posteriad, elytral disk with several tubercles throughout (Figs 39 , 40 ), and tarsal claws without distinct appendage (Fig. 43 ). And the third subgenus, M. ( Laomiccolamia ) Breuning, 1975 is characterized by the elytra lacking basal callosities. However, this classification faces inconsistencies: M. tonsilis and M. coenosa , despite lacking true subbasal tubercles (Figs 32 , 33 ), were placed in the nominate subgenus ( Holzschuh, 2010). Additionally, the new species M. liubini sp. nov. combines diagnostic features of both Miccolamia and Isomiccolamia (Figs 38 , 42 ), further obscuring the subgeneric boundaries.

Given these ambiguities, we refrain from applying subgeneric classification to avoid confusion. Instead, five species groups of Chinese Miccolamia are provisionally proposed, as outlined in the identification key.

Figures

Figures 25–43. Habitus of Miccolamia spp. 25, 26. Dorsal view; 27–40. Lateral view; 27–40. Fore tarsal claw in frontal view; 25, 26, 40. M. castaneoverrucosa Hayashi, 1974 from Taiwan; 27, 41. M. savioi Gressitt, 1940; 28. M. mystica sp. nov.; 29. M. minuta sp. nov.; 30. M. yanziae sp. nov.; 31. M. holzschuhi sp. nov.; 32. M. tonsilis Holzschuh, 2010; 33. M. coenosa Holzschuh, 2010; 34. M. shennong sp. nov.; 35. M. panda sp. nov.; 36. M. binodosa Pic, 1935; 37. M. dracuncula Gressitt, 1942; 38, 42. M. liubini sp. nov.; 39, 43. M. tuberculipennis Breuning, 1947; 40. M. castaneoverrucosa Hayashi, 1974; 27–37, 39, 40. Male; 38. Female. Scale bar 50 μm (41–43), 25–40 not to scale.