Pseudopyrochroa japonica ( Heyden, 1879 a)

Young, Daniel K., 2014, Two new synonyms in species of Pseudopyrochroa (Coleoptera: Pyrochroidae: Pyrochroinae), Insecta Mundi 2014 (346), pp. 1-8 : 1-3

Pseudopyrochroa japonica ( Heyden, 1879 a)

Pyrochroa japonica Heyden 1879 a: 88 ; Heyden 1879b; Lewis 1887, 1895; Pic 1912c

Pseudopyrochroa japonica (Heyden) ; Blair 1914, 1928; Hayashi 1969; Kôno 1929, 1935; Nakane

1960; Nakane and Baba 1961; Osawa 1947; Pollock and Young 2008

Pyrochroa higoniae Lewis 1895: 432

Pseudopyrochroa higoniae (Lewis) ; Pollock and Young 2008

Pseudopyrochroa var. higoniae (Lewis) , Blair 1914, 1928, Kôno 1929

Pseudopyrochroa f. higoniae (Lewis) ; Kôno 1935

Pseudopyrochroa ab. higoniae (Lewis) ; Nakane 1960

Schizotus gibbifrons Lewis 1887: 173 , new synonym

Pseudopyrochroa gibbifrons (Lewis) ; Blair 1914, 1928; Kôno 1929, 1935; Nakane 1960; Pollock and Young 2008

Heyden’s (1879 a: 88) description of Pyrochroa japonica (now in Pseudopyrochroa ) suggests he described the species on the basis of a single female from Kyoto, Japan on the island of Honshū: “Femina … Prope ab urbe Kioto Japoniae semel capta”. He further noted (1879b: 354): “ Kioto, semel capta. Ein nicht gut erhaltenes Ex. (♀) von Kioto.” Within several years this fairly common species was said to be known from both males and females (e.g., Lewis 1887: 171): “Heyden knew only the female. I have a series of about thirty examples from Subashiri, Kiga, and other places lying under mount Fujisan, and also a few from Nikko.”

The nine male and seven female specimens I examined at The Museum of Natural History , London ( BMNH) from Miyanoshita , Subashiri , Oyama and Nikko are no doubt part of this historical series. Label dates and locality data correspond exactly with the annotated Lewis itinerary (e.g., Bates 1883). All specimens were collected April – June , 1880. The single female I examined from Ontake bears no date, but examining the Lewis itinerary, it most likely came from a two day interval in late July , 1881. The considerably later date likely correlates with the much higher elevation at Ontake (reported in the itinerary as 10,000 feet) ; the 1880 collection locations were recorded at elevations ranging from 1390 to 2723 feet.

In the same paper, Lewis (1887: 173) described Schizotus gibbifrons (now in Pseudopyrochroa ) from what he considered to represent both males and females: “The female is very like the male, except that the interocular space is simply convex and the antennae less pectinate.” He also noted, “Five examples, found on Oyayama in Hiogo, May 1881.” Higo was a historical Japanese province in the area presently known as the Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū.

I located eight “ gibbifrons Lewis ” specimens in the BMNH; contrary to what Lewis wrote, all are conspecific females. Three specimens bear identical “Oyay.” as well as “ Kumamoto, 23.IV – 26.IV 81” labels. Two of the three also bear “Type” labels. I consider these three to be part of the “five examples” Lewis alluded to in spite of the difference in date. The lead specimen, bearing a circular, printed “Type” label is presumably the female Nakane (1973) mistakenly referred to as the “type” (infer holotype). In the Lewis itinerary for 1881, a subheading notes: “Oyayama, near Kumamoto, 13 days.” Because this interval spans the end of April and the first part of May, it would be easy to confuse or comingle the months. Two lines below this, the itinerary lists “ Kumamoto (Goka temple), 42” [feet elevation] ; the time interval was 23–26 April, consistent with the label data. A fourth female bears “Oyam.” and “ Nagasaki, 22. V – 3. VI. 81” labels. Per the itinerary, Lewis left Kumamoto on 21 May and began collecting at Nagasaki on 22 May , 1881. The immediate spatial and temporal proximity of this specimen leads me to conclude it is also a syntype, accounting for four of the five specimens Lewis indicated in the description. Three of the eight Lewis specimens bear no locality labels, but on the underside of each mounting card is written “Higo.” While this generally agrees with the specified type locality, whether these specimens are syntypes must be doubted, if for no other reason than it would inflate the syntype series to seven specimens when five were specifically noted by Lewis. Interestingly, the eighth specimen in the “ gibbifrons Lewis ” holdings is labeled “Miyanoshita, 11. V. – 14. V.80.” This female was taken at the exact locality as seven of the historical “Lewis” specimens of P. japonica , and within days of his P. japonica collections at nearby Subashiri .

Lewis (1895) described Pyrochroa higoniae from “three or four specimens ” collected at “Oyayama and Yuyama.” Although he did not specifically allude to the sex of the specimens, the species description was based largely on cranial modifications of the male. Presumably, all specimens were males and this agrees with the four males I found at the BMNH under this name. The first bears a “ Type ” label and the locality, “Higo” is written on the underside of the mounting card. The second specimen also bears a handwritten “Higo” location on the underside of the mounting card. The third male is labeled “Yuyam, 8–13.” If the numbers correspond to a range of days, this is consistent with the itinerary, showing that Lewis was at Yuyama (3000 feet), 10–14 May 1881. A hint as to why Lewis listed the number of specimens as “three or four” can be found on the label attached to the fourth specimen in the higoniae series: “var ♂?”

It is curious, amidst considerable cranial apparatus diversity in males of Japanese Pseudopyrochroa , that neither Lewis nor other pyrochroid researchers such as Blair (1914, 1928), Pic (1912c), Kôno (1929, 1935), or Nakane (1960) questioned the apparent lack of modifications in what was taken to be the Lewis series of both males and females of P. gibbifrons . Perhaps, at least for Blair and Pic, part of the confusion stemmed from the misunderstanding of the generic concepts applied to Schizotus , Pyrochroa , and Pseudopyrochroa that prevailed at the time. In any case, as noted above, all specimens in the type series of P. gibbifrons are female. From this discovery, and comparison with collection events it is likely that P. gibbifrons is no more than the female of P. japonica .

Blair (1914) and Kôno (1929) relied on cranial color to distinguish between the two species. The head (sensu Blair) or “Strin” (= frons or frontoclypeal region, sensu Kôno) of P. gibbifrons was said to be black. The “lower part of the face” (sensu Blair) or “Kopf vorn” (= head in front, sensu Kôno) was described as yellow (Blair) or “gelb oder rot” (= yellow or red, sensu Kôno). Color of the head, pronotum and even the elytra can be quite variable in species of Pseudopyrochroa (e.g. Young 1996b, Young, 2001a). Even as Lewis (1895: 432) noted when describing P. higoniae and comparing it to P. japonica , “The colour of the thorax varies in both … sometimes the lateral margins are infuscate, sometimes the central area also, and in other specimens the thorax is wholly red.”

On the basis of the evidence presented above, I propose Schizotus gibbifrons Lewis, 1887 as a new junior synonym of Pyrochroa japonica Heyden, 1879 .