Lycocerus bilineatus (Wittmer, 1995)

Yang, Yuxia, Kopetz, Andreas & Yang, Xingke, 2013, Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on the genera Themus Motschulsky and Lycocerus Gorham (Coleoptera, Cantharidae), ZooKeys 340, pp. 1-19 : 5-6

Lycocerus bilineatus (Wittmer, 1995) Figs 7-8

Athemus (Isathemus) bilineatus Wittmer 1995: 275, figs. 140, 141.

Athemus (s.str.) amplus Wittmer 1995: 278, figs. 146, 147, 203.

Lycocerus amplus : Kazantsev and Brancucci 2007: 249. syn. n.

Lycocerus bilineatus : Kazantsev and Brancucci 2007: 249.

Type material examined.

Athemus (Isathemus) bilineatus : Holotype ♂ (NHMB): [p]"Nordwestal. China \ Chinkiang \ Col. Reitter", [h]"REM \ 95 \ 11.9", [h]"A. (Isathemus) \ bilineatus \ Wittm., \ det. W. Wittmer", [p] “HOLOTYPUS”, [p]"CANTHARIDAE \ CANTH00001927".

Athemus (s.str.) amplus: Holotype ♂ (MNHN): [h]"V.1917 \ China \ Shanghai \ J. Hervé-Bdzin”, [h]"Athemus s.str. \ amplus \ Wittm. \ det. W. Wittmer", [p] “HOLOTYPUS”. Paratypes: 3♂♂, 2♀♀ (MNHN): [h] “Shanghai”, [p] “PARATYPUS”; 1♂ (NHMB): [p]"Shanghai \ V.1917 \ J. Hervé-Bdzin”, [p] “PARATYPUS”, "CANTHARIDAE \ CANTH00001340"; 1♀ (NHMB): [p]"Shanghai \ V \ 1917, J. Hervé-Bdzin”, [p] “PARATYPUS”, [p]"CANTHARIDAE \ CANTH00002072"; 1♂ (NHMB): [p]"Zi-ka-wei \ 20.IV.1924", [p] “PARATYPUS”, [p]"CANTHARIDAE \ CANTH00001986".

Additional material examined.

CHINA: Shanghai: 1♂, 2♀♀ (IZAS): "Shanghai, 19.VI.1947, Marist Brothers"; 1♂ (IZAS): “Zi-ka-wei”, 20.IV.1924. Jiangxi: 2♂♂, 1♀ (IZAS): Jiangxi.Hubei: 2♂♂ (IZAS): Xingshan, Xiakou, 140m, 2.V.1994, leg. Xing-Ke Yang; 2♀♀ (IZAS): Zigui, Jiulingtou, 110m, 1.V.1994, leg. Wen-Zhu Li.

Distribution.

China (Jiangsu, Shanghai, Jiangxi, Hubei).

Remarks.

Both Lycocerus amplus (Wittmer, 1995) and Lycocerus bilineatus (Wittmer, 1995) were originally described in Athemus and assigned to different subgenera. In the original manuscript ( Wittmer 1995), Lycocerus bilineatus was described on a single male type, so it made no sense that it was attributed to the subgenus Isathemus because of no female available. Furthermore, having examined the holotypes of both nominal species and some paratypes, as well as a series of additional specimens, we could not find any difference justifying their separation, even in the tarsal claws, which is the character to distinguish the subgenera Athemus and Isathemus ( Wittmer 1995). Consequently, we synonymized Lycocerus amplus under Lycocerus bilineatus .