Paragymnopleurus stipes japonicus Balthasar, 1955

Pokorný, Svatopluk & Zídek, Jiri, 2014, Review of the Gymnopleurini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae). II. The genus Paragymnopleurus Shipp, Insecta Mundi 2014 (395), pp. 1-10 : 4

Paragymnopleurus stipes japonicus Balthasar ( Fig. 2 )

Balthasar (1955) based this subspecies on a female labeled as from “Mukogum Hyogoken, Japan ”, which according to Dr. Shuhei Nomura of the National Museum in Tokyo is an old name for the area between Kobe and Osaka, Hyogo Prefecture, in southern Honshu. Today the area is thoroughly urbanized, divided among the cities of Ashiya, Takarazuka, Nishinomyia and Amagasaki. Löbl (2006: 31, 156) listed this subspecies as a nomen dubium and commented that “According to K. Masumoto (pers. communication) this taxon is unknown from Japan, and its relevant type material is not traceable.” Neither is this taxon nor any other gymnopleurine mentioned in the most recent treatment of Japanese Scarabaeoidea ( Kawai et al. 2008). The holotype at NMPC has since resurfaced, and its examination reveals no characters that would allow separation from P. ambiguus , which occurs in Taiwan. Paragymnopleurus stipes japonicus is therefore hereby synonymized with P. ambiguus . Since Balthasar’s specimen is the only gymnopleurine ever reported from Japan, accidental introduction is more likely than northward dispersal from Taiwan via the Ryukyu Islands, because an established population of such a relatively large (~ 20 mm) species could hardly escape attention. Another possibility of course is an erroneous locality label.

We are aware of only two other specimens of Paragymnopleurus purportedly from Japan, virtually identical females in the BMNH collection, each of which bears three labels: “ Gymnopleurus sinuatus Ol. ” (handwritten), “ Japan teste Staudinger 1900” (handwritten), and “ Japan. G. Lewis 1910 – 320” (printed). They reside in a tray labeled “ P. stipes japonicus ”, but who identified them as such is not known and the lack of locality data makes their provenance suspect. They both are subtly bicolored, with the pronota lighter bronze than the elytra; they best fit the description of one of the bronze subspecies of P. sinuatus , possibly P.s. productus .

Figures

Figures 1-9. 1) Paragymnopleurus ambiguus Janssens, female, 23 mm. 2) P. stipes japonicus Balthasar [= P. ambiguus], male holotype, 21 mm. 3) P. brahminus (Waterhouse), female, 21 mm. 4) P. martinezi Balthasar, male holotype, 14 mm. 5) P. maurus maurus (Sharp), male, 16.5 mm. 6) P. maurus malayanus Ochi and Kon, female, 15.5 mm. 7) Paragymnopleurus maurus pauliani Janssens, female, 15.5 mm. 8) P. melanarius (Harold), male, 19.5 mm. 9) P. planus (Sharp), male, 17 mm.