Prosopocoilus denticulatus ( Boileau, 1901 )

Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang & Wan, Xia, 2014, Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae), Zoological Systematics 39 (1), pp. 136-148 : 144-147

Prosopocoilus denticulatus ( Boileau, 1901) ( Figs 4 , 31–38 , 58–60 )

Prosopocoelus denticulatus Boileau, 1901 . Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1901: 284.

Prosopocoilus denticulatus: Benesh, 1960 . Coleop. Cat., 8(Suppl.): 63.

Prosopocoilus katsurai Fujita, 2010 . The Lucanidae of the world: 200, pl. 122. Syn. nov.

Length 21.0–45.0 mm. Width 7.5–12.5 mm. Color. Reddish brown ( Figs 31–38 ). Head. Sub-square, post-ocular margins convex distinctly and swollen, 2.0 times wider than long. Anterior margin at middle slightly concaved, with forming a large, semi-circularly frontal depression in male. Vertex gently raised. In females, the front depression very small and quite shallow with sparsely large punctures; vertex almost flatten. Male mandibles. About as long as the total length of head and pronotum in large and medium-sized males, but distinctly shorter in small males. Mandibles of large males slightly curved inwards. The apex sharp with a marked sub-apical tooth. An internally large, sharp, triangular tooth situated rightly at the mandibular base on each mandible; at the front of this tooth, 7–8 denticles arranged sparsely to the sub-apical tooth. Size of these teeth and the amount of denticles gradually reduced following to body size diminishing in males; in very small males, the basal tooth, the sub-apical tooth absent, merely a row of denticles serrated. Mentum. Almost trapezoidal, front angles rounded, with small punctures; that of females with larger and denser punctures, containing sparse brown setae. Pronotum. 2.0 times wider than long, almost as wide as that of head. Front angles quite acute. Lateral margins slightly serrated and curved, strongly divergent on anterior 1/2 then convergent on posterior 1/ 2 in males. Hind angles obtusely rounded. In females: lateral margins uniformly convex. Elytra. 1.2–1.4 times longer than wide, about as wide as that of pronotum. Disc slightly shiny, reddish to reddish brown. The elytra suture dark. Legs. Front tibiae slender, laterally serrated with 4–5 small teeth. Middle and hind tibiae simply with a very small spine. Aedeagus ( Figs 58–60 ). Moderately stout, the ventrally triangular tooth of PA at middle large and expanded (about 1.74mm from its point angle to outer margin of PA), with additionally small denticles along posterior edges of these teeth. PES about 1.7 times the length of Tegmen; BP 1.5 times the length of PA. Female genitalia ( Fig. 63 ). HS sclerotized, irregular shape, the apex sub-round, the rest of HS almost parallel-sided, stalk-liked and widened at base. Paired sclerites of sternite 9 relatively broad with quite expanded apex. SD slightly widened where it joins BC. The apex of S almost pear-shaped. SG very slender with narrow apex.

Lectotype designation. Syntypes were described by Boileau in 1901. We found one large male, one medium-sized male, one small male and one female were labelled “Type sp.” The large male with full developed mandible was selected as the lectotype, and others as paralectotypes.

Type material examined. Lectotype of P. denticulatus , ♂ ( Fig. 4 ), in MNHN, labelled : Lectotype (red label) / Type sp. (pale label) / denticulatus , Types ♂ ♀, H. Boileau (handwritten) / 229 / H. Tonkin, N. O. de Bao Lac, Dr. Battarel, 1897–1898; / Museum Paris ex Coll. R. Didier . Paralectotypes: 2♂, 1♀, labelled: type sp. (pale label) / H. Tonkin, N. O. de Bao Lac, Dr. Battarel, 1897–1898. [The Lectotype and paralectotypes were designated by Dr. Stéphane Boucher and Dr. Xia Wan] .

Additional material examined. China, Guangxi, Mt. Daming , 6♂ (in MAHU) . Yunnan, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang , 23 July 1957, 1♂, Fu-Ji Pu leg. ; Xishuangbanna, Mengzhe , alt. 890 m, 17 May 1958, 1♂, 2♀, Fu-Ji Pu leg. ; same locality, alt. 1 050–1 080 m, 3 August 1958, 1♂, Fu-Ji Pu leg. ; Xishuangbanna, Jinghong , alt. 650 m, 30 May 1959, 1♂, Xue-Zhong Zhang leg. ; same locality, 3 September 1959, 1♂, 2♀, Shu-Yong Wang leg. ; Xishuangbanna, Menglun , alt. 580 m, 8 September 1993, 1♂, Long-Long Yang leg. ; Vietnam, Tonkin, Hoa-Binh , July 1940, 2♂, 2♀, A. de Cooman leg. (in NZMC).

Distribution. China (Yunnan, Guangxi); N. Vietnam.

Remarks. Prosopocoilus denticulatus once was treated by Arrow (1943) as a junior synonym of P. crenulidens without any discussion. Didier & Séguy (1953) reinstated P. denticulatus in its former valid status. Apparently, P. denticulatus is very similar to P. crenulidens in external morphology and they both are often sympatrically distributed according to the known records. But they actually can be recognized clearly based on the following characters: 1) male mandibles: basal teeth of P. crenuliden s blunt, bifurcated; that of P. denticulatus quite sharp, not bifurcated; 2) aedeagus: ventrally triangular teeth of PA in P. crenuliden s very long and strongly curved, so that the two teeth crossed to each other ( Figs 55–57 ); that of P. denticulatus small, short and almost directly expanded, with additionally small denticles along posterior edges of these teeth to the bases of PA ( Figs 58–60 ), which is unique in all the allied species from China. Due to the two species’ differences, it is necessary to correct some longstanding wrong diagnoses of them especially in some popular illustrations, such as Mizunuma and Nagai (1994) and Fujita (2010), photos of “ P. crenulidens ” should be “ P. denticulatus ” in their books, and vice versa.

Also, the recently-published species, P. katsurai Fujita, 2010 is purposed as a new junior synonym of P. denticulatus during this study. Holotype picture of P. katsurai in Fujita’s illustration surely is as same as that of P. denticulatus . Also, all of them come from N. Vietnam, type locality of P. katsurai is Dong Van County, Ha Tuyen, where is not far from the locality of P. denticulatus (Bao-Lac County) .

Figures

Figs 1–4. Labels, type specimens in MNHN. 1. Lectotype of Prosopocoilu gracilis (Saunders). 2. Holotype of Prosopocoilus piceipennis. 3. Holotype of Prosopocoilus tonkinensis. 4. Lectotype of Prosopocoilus denticulatus. Scale bars = 10mm.

Figs 31–38. Prosopocoilus denticulatus. Figs 39–42. Prosopocoilus similis. 31–34. Specimens from Guangxi, Wuming. 35–38. Specimens from Yunnan, Xishuangbanna. 31–33, 35–42. ♂ 34. ♀ 31-32, 35, 39–40. Large. 33, 36–37, 41–42. Medium-sized. 38. Small. Scale bars = 10mm.

Figs 43–60. Aedeagus in ventral view, dorsal view and lateral view. 43–48. Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders). 43–45. Specimen from Fujian. 46–48. Specimen from Yunnan. 49–51. Prosopocoilus similis. 52–54. Prosopocoilus piceipennis. 55–57. Prosopocoilus crenulidens. 58–60. Prosopocoilus denticulatus. Scale bars = 1mm.

Figs 61–63. Female genitalia. 61. Prosopocoilus gracilis. 62. Prosopocoilus crenulidens. 63. Prosopocoilus denticulatus. Scale bars = 1mm.