Mispila (s. str.) venosa venosa Pascoe, 1864

Xie, Guanglin, Barclay, Maxwell V. L. & Wang, Wenkai, 2023, The collection of the genus Mispila Pascoe, 1864 housed in the Natural History Museum, London (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Zootaxa 5352 (2), pp. 245-265 : 246-248

Mispila (s. str.) venosa venosa Pascoe, 1864

( Figures 1 , 2 )

Mispila venosa Pascoe, 1864: 90 ; Gemminger & Harold, 1873: 3092.

Mispila (Mispila) venosa: Aurivillius, 1922: 275 ; Breuning, 1961a: 281; Breuning, 1963b: 485; Makihara et al., 2002: 195; Yan et al., 2023: 3.

Type material examined. Malaysia. Lectotype, male ( Figure 1a–d ): ‘Type [p, label circular, redframed]; Sarawak [h, label oval, dark green]; Pascoe / Coll. / 93–60 [p]; Mispila / venosa [h]; Mispila / venosa / Type / Pasc. [h]; NHMUK 014596489 [p]’; Paralectotype, 1 female ( Figure 1e–h ): ‘ Sarawak [h, label oval, dark green]; Pascoe / Coll. / 93–60 [p]; NHMUK 013387730 [p]’; Paralectotype, 1 female: ‘Sar k [h][Sarawak]; Pascoe / Coll. / 93–60 [p]; Mispila / venosa [h]; NHMUK 013387732 [p]’; Paralectotype, 1 male: ‘ TYPE [p]; Borneo [h]; Fry Coll. / 1905. 100. [p]; 34095 [h]; Mispila / venosa / N. B. [North Borneo] Pasc [h]; NHMUK 014596467 [p]’.

Non-type material examined. Malaysia: 1 male: ‘Malay Penin. / Ex Coll. Perak / Museum [h]; Ex F. M S. / Museum. / B. M. 1955–354. [p]; 113 [h]; Niphoninae / Mispila / venosa / Pascoe / Pl V. fig 2 Pasc. [h]; Mispila / venosa Pasc. [h] / det. K. G. Blair. [p]; NHMUK 013387721 [p]’; Indonesia: 3 males and 1 female: ‘ Java. [p] / Bowring. 63·47* [p]’; 1 male: ‘Banda [h]; Pascoe / Coll. / 93–60 [p]’; 1 male: ‘ Java. [p]; Bowring. 63·47* [p]; 36 [h, blue-grey paper]’; 1 female: ‘ Celebes / Latimodjong Geb. / Oeroe 800 m / Heinrich 8. 1930 [p, yellow paper]; Celebes. / G. Heinrich. / B. M. 1933–117. [p, orange line]; Mispila / venosa / Pasc. [h] / det. Breuning [p]; NHMUK 013387726’; 1 female: ‘ Java. [p] / Bowring. 63·47* [p]; Mispila / venosa, Pasc. ; from fig. & descriptn [h]’.

Comments. A total of 13 specimens of this species were examined. Pascoe (1864) provided two type localities: Sarawak and Batchian (now Bacan). Four specimens from the Pascoe collection (with registration number 93–60) were found, three of which are from Sarawak (1 male and 2 females, Figure 1a–h and Figure 2a, b ) and were confirmed to be syntypes without doubt, but the remaining one ( Figure 2g, h ) is uncertain as it is labelled (in Pascoe’s handwriting) as ‘Banda’ rather than ‘Batchian’.

It is here not treated as a type specimen, but in the absence of any ‘Batchian’ material it is possible that Pascoe made an error while writing the description. Yan et al. (2023) designated the lectotype ( Figure 1a–d ) based on photographs of a male from Sarawak which was illustrated in Pascoe’s original work. Another male specimen ( Figure 2i, j ) from North Borneo from the Fry collection has been labelled by Fry with a type label, and bears the number 34095, which in the Fry Register states that it was received as a type from Pascoe.

Based on this information, and because Sarawak is in North Borneo, it is treated as a paralectotype.

The dark spots on the pronotum and elytra are varied: the pronotal dark spots range from slightly darker on the margins on both sides ( Figure 1a , Figure 2g ) to occupying almost the entire pronotal disc ( Figure 1e , Figure 2i ), and the middle part of the elytron ranges from a small dark spot ( Figure 1c, g ) to a conspicuous big lateral dark brown spot ( Figure 2e ). However, the white linear bands on the elytra are very stable: the transverse line at the basal 1/3 of each elytron always extends to the suture, where a short longitudinal line is inserted at its middle and connected to the inner end of the short oblique line behind it.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Types of Mispila (s. str.) venosa venosa Pascoe, 1864. (a–d) lectotype, male; (e–h) paralectotype, female; scale: 5 mm.

FIGURE 2. Habitus of Mispila (s. str.) venosa venosa Pascoe, 1864. (a, b) paralectotype, female; (c, d) female; (g–h) male; (i–j) paralectotype, male; scale: 5 mm.