Phorocardius comptus ( Candeze , 1860) [removed from distribution of mainland China and Taiwan]

Ruan, Yongying, Douglas, Hume B., Qiu, Lu, Chen, Xiaoqin & Jiang, Shihong, 2020, Revision of Chinese Phorocardius species (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Cardiophorinae), ZooKeys 993, pp. 47-120 : 47

Phorocardius comptus ( Candeze, 1860) [removed from distribution of mainland China and Taiwan] Fig. 28

Cardiophorus comptus Candèze, 1860: 202. Type locality: Hindoustan méridional, Mysore (interpreted as India, Karnataka, Mysuru). Lectotype designated here.

Phorocardius comptus : Miwa 1934: 209 (distribution).

Dicronychus comptus : Ôhira 1973: 38 (as comb. nov. from Cardiophorus , distribution).

Phorocardius comptus : Ôhira 1978: 96 (as comb. nov. from Dicronychus , distribution, photograph of habitus).

Phorocardius comptus : Cate et al. 2007: 206 (distribution).

Distribution.

India ( Candèze 1860, 1891); Nepal ( Ôhira 1978); Sri Lanka ( Ôhira 1973). Excluded from China here.

Remarks.

Phorocardius comptus was recorded from Taiwan by Miwa (1927, 1931). However, Suzuki (1999) considered the record questionable. He excluded P. comptus from Taiwan after studying the specimens that Miwa (1927) used for the record. The same specimen was examined in our study (TARI, see Fig. 28F ). We agree with Suzuki (1999) that the specimen used by Miwa (1927) is one of the "Shiraki specimens". "Shiraki specimens" were originally housed in NHMUK, collected from tropical Oriental countries (e.g., India, Nepal, Borneo, etc.) and shipped to Taiwan by Dr Shiraki in 1916. All specimen labels were then replaced by new labels with several specific localities from Taiwan such as “Rônô”, “Kôshun”, “Kôtoshô”, “Horisha”, “Hori”, “Musha”, etc. ( Kurosawa 1980; Chu and Xiao 1981; Chu 2011, 2013). Most of these Taiwan locality names refer to localities in the south and southeast Asia, the codes for these true locality names were documented in a file housed in National Taiwan University, Taipei, which was already lost shortly after world war II ( Chu 2011). Additionally, under each of these specimens, there is a typical Shiraki’s label with his handwriting and a red circle mark. Therefore, the single P. comptus specimen in TARI is one of these "Shiraki specimens", since it has a locality label indicating “Rônô”, and a second label with Shiraki’s handwriting and a red circle mark.

Phorocardius comptus was previously recorded by Jiang (1993) and Jiang and Wang (1999) in Hubei Prov., China. We examined the specimens used in those studies and found that these specimens are not conspecific with P. comptus , instead they are described as a new species in this study (i.e., Phorocardius alterlineatus Ruan & Douglas sp. nov. above). We consider P. comptus to be absent from mainland China and Taiwan.

Candèze (1860: 202) described Cardiophorus comptus and C. contemptus on the same page and stated that C. contemptus (see Fig. 29 ) may be a variety C. comptus . The examination of the type material of both species shows that they are similar in female genitalia and external characters (except for the elytral color). It is possible that C. contemptus is a junior synonym of C. comptus . However, as we have not studied any male specimen of C. contemptus , it is treated here as valid.

Three specimens (NHMUK) are designated as lectotype or paralectotypes for the following reasons: 1) they are labeled with “SYNTYPE”; 2) the labels indicate either "S. India" or “Hindoustan”, which are consistent with the original description; 3) the collection of Candèze before 1869 had been transferred to the NHMUK ( Bousquet 2016); and 4) the type materials are absent in either RBINS or MNHN.

Type material.

Lectotype of Cardiophorus comptus Candèze, 1860: ♂ (NHMUK), labels: 1) Syntype [a circular label]; 2) 677; 3) [a small blank square label in deep-red color]; 4) Cardioph. Comptus Cand. Hindoustan; 5) Janson Coll. Ex. Deyrolle. 1903.130; 6) Lectotype, Cardiophorus comptus Candèze, 1888, Des. Ruan & Douglas, 2020.

Paralectotypes of Cardiophorus comptus Candèze, 1860: 1♂ (NHMUK), labels: 1) SYNTYPE [a circular label]; 2) S. India; 3) 733; 4) 11; 5) Janson coll., ex Dejean. 1903-130; 6) C. comptus ♂; 7) Paralectotype, Cardiophorus comptus Candèze, 1888, Des. Ruan & Douglas, 2020. 1♀ (NHMUK), labels: 1) S. India, ex coll. …… [characters illegible]; 2) Janson coll., ex Dejean. 1903-130; 3) 727; 4) 10; 5) C. Comptus …… [characters illegible], ♀ Cdzé.; 6) ♀ genitalia See slide Coll. No. 796; 7) Paralectotype, Cardiophorus comptus Candèze, 1888, Des. Ruan & Douglas, 2020. [We consider this female specimen as one of the paralectotypes because the locality on the label is consistent with the original description, and the specimen has a unique red prothorax, which is described as a variation by the author ( Candèze 1860). This specimen is shown in Fig. 28D ].

Additional material.

The specimen that was used as a distributional record by Miwa (1927) [this specimen is actually from the south or southeast Asia instead of Taiwan as discussed above]: 1♀ (TARI), labels: 1) Rônô; 2) Phorocardius comptus Cand. Det T. Shiraki; 3) Not Taiwan, Shiraki specimen, W. Suzuki, 1989.

The specimens that were misidentified as P. comptus and used as a distributional record by Jiang (1993) and Jiang and Wang (1999) [these specimens are identified as P. alterlineatus sp. nov. Ruan & Douglas in this study]: 1♂ (SZPT), labels: 1) Hubei, Wu-dang Mts., Chao-tian-gong (朝天宫), 1982.VII.5; 2) Phorocardius comptus ( Candèze), det. Shihong Jiang 19; 3) 7.30*2.60 cm. • 1♂ (SZPT), labels: 1) Hubei, Wu-dang Mts., Zi-xiao (紫霄), 1982.VII.10; 2) Phorocardius comptus ( Candèze), det. Shihong Jiang 1993. • 1♀ (SZPT), labels: 1) Hubei, Wu-dang Mts., Jin-ding (金顶), 1982.VII.9; 2) Phorocardius comptus ( Candèze), det. Shihong Jiang 1993. • 1♀ (SZPT), labels: 1) Hubei, Wu-dang Mts., Lao-yan (老燕), 1983.VII.2; 2) Phorocardius comptus ( Candèze), det. Shihong Jiang 1993. • 1♀ (SZPT), labels: 1) Hubei, Wu-dang Mts., Nan-yan (南岩), 1983.VII.2; 2) Phorocardius comptus ( Candèze), det. Shihong Jiang 1991.

Figures

Figure 28. Phorocardius comptus (Candeze, 1860) (insets A, B, E, G-I are provided by Ms Karine Savard, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada; insets C, D are provided by Dr Yijie Tong, IZCAS). A lectotype, male, dorsal view B lectotype, male, lateral view C paralectotype, male, dorsal view D paralectotype, female, dorsal view E female, dorsal view (NHMUK, non-type specimen) F female, dorsal view (TARI, used for distributional record by Miwa (1927)) G aedeagus of lectotype, dorsal view, arrow indicating apices of parameres and median lobe H aedeagus of lectotype, lateral view, arrow indicating apices of parameres and median lobe I distal (upper side) and proximal sclerites of bursa copulatrix (paralectotype, habitus shown in D).

Figure 29. Phorocardius contemptus (Candeze, 1860) (images are provided by Ms Karine Savard, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada). A lectotype, female, dorsal view B ovipositor, dorsal view C head, frontal view (lectotype) D distal sclerite of bursa copulatrix (lectotype; only one sclerite is shown) E proximal sclerites of bursa copulatrix (lectotype).