Palaestes abruptus Sharp, 1899

Jaskula, Radomir, Michalski, Marek & Marris, John W. M., 2021, First records of the Palaestes abruptus Sharp, 1899 and P. nicaraguae Sharp, 1899 (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) from South America, with a checklist of flat bark beetles from the continent, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 62576-62576 : 62576

Palaestes abruptus Sharp, 1899

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: sex: 2 males; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: higherClassification: Animalia; Arthropoda; Insecta; Coleoptera; Cucujidae' Palaestes; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Coleoptera; family: Cucujidae; genus: Palaestes; specificEpithet: abruptus; Location: higherGeography: South America; Peru; Pasco Region; Oxapampa Province; Pozuzo District; Pozuzo; continent: South America; country: Peru; countryCode: PE; stateProvince: Pasco Region; county: Oxapampa Province; municipality: Pozuzo District; locality: Pozuzo ; verbatimElevation: 750-1430 m; Identification: identifiedBy: Radomir Jaskuła; dateIdentified: 2020-12; identificationReferences: Sharp 1899; identificationRemarks: Pictures of type material were used to confirm identification; Event: eventDate: 2019-11; year: 2019; month: 11; habitat: mountain rain forest; eventRemarks: col. Alexander Sokolov; Record Level: collectionID: RJC (Radomir Jaskuła Collection, Łódź, Poland); ownerInstitutionCode: RJC/CUC-0008; RJC/CUC-0009; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Small beetles with strongly flattened bodies; body length (measured from the top of clypeus to the end of elytra) of two studied Peruvian males: 14.7 mm (Fig. 1 a) and 13.6 mm (Fig. 1 b). Head black with mandibles black; pronotum yellow-orange; basal part of elytra yellow-orange, while the second half is black; scutellum black; antennae black, except for the last two antennomeres which are brown-orange; legs yellow-orange, except apical parts of femur, tibia and tarsus which are black; tarsal claws brown-orange. Sexual dimorphism very visible with males having very large mandibles.

Distribution

Previously, this species was only known from Panama and Costa Rica ( Sharp 1899, Jin et al. 2020). The locality is mountainous rain forest at altitudes ranging from 750 to 1430 m (Fig. 2 ). This is the first record from Peru and South America.

Ecology

Cucujidae larvae and adults are known to live under the bark of dead trees ( Thomas and Leschen 2010); however, very little is known about biology and ecology of the Palaestes species. Sharp (1899) reported that "Mr Champion informs me that these insects are chiefly found between the thin crevices of sappy timber, and that they are often seen on the wing in forest clearings". This indicates that the habit of Palaestes is similar to that of other cucujids. The only published account of the biology specifically for P. abruptus was by Jin et al. (2020), who recorded the only known larva of the species from a rotten log in Costa Rica, found in association with an adult female. Palaestes larvae and adults are probably predatory on small invertebrates living under the bark of dead trees, as has been noted for Platisus zelandicus Marris & Klimaszewski, 2001 ( Watt et al. 2001) and Cucujus spp. (e.g. Palm 1941, Mamaev et al. 1977, Smith and Sears 1982, Horák and Nakládal 2009, Mazzei et al. 2011, Bonacci et al. 2012, Bonacci et al. 2020, Zdeněk et al. 2012). However, it cannot be excluded that they feed also as scavengers or as opportunistic omnivores, feeding on various types of organic debris, such as wood and phloem debris, as recorded for some Cucujus species ( Nikitskiy et al. 2000, Horák and Nakládal 2009, Horák 2011). Detailed studies of the phenology, food and habitat preferences and behaviour of Palaestes species are needed.

Figures

Figure 1. Palaestes abruptus - two males (a-b) from Pasco Region, Peru (photo Marek Michalski).

Figure 2. Habitat of Palaestes abruptus in Pasco Region, Peru: general view of the mountains (a), rain forest (b) (photo Alexander Sokolov).