Ithocritus Lacordaire, 1872

Bi, Wen-Xuan, Chen, Chang-Chin & Lin, Mei-Ying, 2020, Notes on the tribe Petrognathini Blanchard, 1845 from China, with description of a new species from Yunnan (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae), Zootaxa 4732 (3), pp. 453-460 : 454

Genus Ithocritus Lacordaire, 1872

Ithocritus Lacordaire, 1872: 448 . Type species: Monochamus ruber Hope, 1839 , by original designation.

Ithocritus ; Gemminger, 1873: 3059; Aurivillius, 1922: 206; Breuning, 1956: 354; Löbl & Smetana, 2010: 291; Lin & Jiroux, 2011: 108; Ohbayashi & Lin, 2012: 237; Lin & Yang, 2019: 340.

Remarks. Including the types species, two of the three known species of the genus have been investigated in this study. Both species with granules near outer edge of scape ( Fig. 11 ), which is inconsistent with the tribal definition proposed by Breuning (1956) and Ohbayashi & Lin (2012).

Male genitalia of the two studied species has the endophallus lacking the crescent-shaped sclerites (cs), which accordant with the structure observed in Petrognatha Leach, 1819 (type genus of the tribe), Ioesse Thomson, 1864 , and Pseudapriona Breuning, 1936 . The consistency of this character among these studied genera superficially stabilized their tribal treatment. However, the absence of such crescent-shaped sclerites in the male endophallus have been reported in several taxa from different tribes of subfamily Lamiinae , e.g. some species of Phytoeciini (as “basal-lateral-ventral sclerites”, Kasatkin 2006), Mimocagosima Breuning, 1968 and Thermistis Pascoe, 1867 of Saperdini (as “basal armature” – Lin, Li & Yang 2008; Lin et al. 2012), Acanista Pascoe, 1864 of Acanthocinini , Pentacosmia Newman, 1842 and Probatodes Thomson, 1864 of Rhodopinini (both genera currently in Desmiphorini ), Rosenbergia Ritsema, 1881 of Batocerini (as “crescent-shaped sclerites”, Ślipiński & Escalona 2013), and have also been observed in Pseudomeges Breuning, 1943 and Myagrus Pascoe, 1878 of Lamiini (both genera currently in Monochamini ) (Bi, unpublished). The species of Apriona Chevrolat, 1852 and Batocera Dejean, 1835 (Batocerini) from China lack the crescent-shaped sclerites, while Batocera spp. from Australia were reported by Ślipiński & Escalona (2013) having “large crescent-shaped sclerites”, and the species of Microcriodes Breuning, 1943 , also Batocerini , have such sclerites. These variations undoubtedly indicate a more complicated situation, making questionable the tribal position of Ithocritus .

Figures

FIGURES 8–16. Habitus of two Ithocritus species. 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, Ithocritus ruber (Hope, 1839); 10, 11, 14, 16, Ithocritus similis Bi & Lin, sp. nov. 8, 9, 10, scutellum; 11, scape (lateral view); 12, 13, 14, meso- and metathorax (lateroventral view), showing the bright pubescent maculae on mesanepisternum or metanepisternum; 15, 16, female abdominal ventrite V. Not to scale.