Themus (Telephorops) nepalensis species-group

Yang, Yuxia, Xi, Huacong, Yang, Xingke & Liu, Haoyu, 2019, Taxonomic review of the Themus (Telephorops) nepalensis species-group (Coleoptera, Cantharidae), ZooKeys 884, pp. 81-106 : 81

Themus (Telephorops) nepalensis species-group

Diagnosis.

Elytra enlarged posteriorly and widest near apical third. Aedeagus: conjoint dorsal plate of parameres narrowed apically in dorsal view, emarginate at middle of apical edge; laterophyses flattened dorsoventrally, reduced and not reaching apices of conjoint dorsal plate except in a few species. Female internal genitalia: diverticulum situated at end of vagina, presenting with a sclerotized ring around at base, confluent in middle and extending to median oviduct; spermatheca arising from middle of the sclerotized ring.

Distribution. Most species are restricted in their distribution ( Figs 1 , 2 ), except T. impressipennis (Fairmaire, 1886) and T. coelestis (Gorham, 1889), which are widely distributed in China.

Remarks.

The diagnosis is developed from the definition of the species-group by Švihla (2008). Characters of the elytra and aedeagus, the female internal genitalia are supplemented in the present study. This differs from the davidis species-group in the female genitalia having a sclerotized ring around the base of the diverticulum, delimiting it from the vagina; and spermatheca opening on the opposite side to the median oviduct. While in the davidis species-group, there are only a pair of short conjoint sclerotized ridges below the diverticulum, hardly delimitated from the vagina; and spermatheca opening on the same side as the median oviduct ( Yang et al. 2019).

Figures

Figure 1. Distribution map of Themus (Telephorops) nepalensis species-group (part I).

Figure 2. Distribution map of Themus (Telephorops) nepalensis species-group (part II).