Protapalochrus (Latapalochrus) puncticollis ( Wittmer, 1970 )

Tshernyshev, Sergei E., 2016, A review of species of the genera Protapalochrus Erichson and Paratinoides L. Medvedev (Coleoptera, Malachiidae), Zootaxa 4139 (3), pp. 369-390 : 378-381

Protapalochrus (Latapalochrus) puncticollis ( Wittmer, 1970)

( Figs 2–6 , 24–28, 30 (quadrate))

Apalochrus puncticollis Wittmer, 1970: 96 –97— Khovd Aimak, Munh-Khair-Khan Ula Mountain.

Protapalochrus puncticollis: Evers 1987: 59 , 61.

= Apalochrus chamaeleon Evers, 1971: 233 , 235— Mongolia: Bayan-Ulege Aimak, Chovd River near Olgii syn. n.

= Apalochrus chamaeleon var. chamaeleonoides Evers, 1971: 233 , 235.

= Troglocollops eversi Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1988: 46 –47, fig. 1— Russia: Altai, near Kosh-Agach vill.; Apalochrus eversi Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1988 : Tshernyshev 1994: 51 syn. n.

Material examined. Type material. Holotype of Apalochrus puncticollis Wittmer, 1970 , male ( Figs 5–6 ), white photo-printed in Russian geographic label: Mongolia, Khovd Aimak, Munh-Khair-Khan Ula Mountain (N48o10′, E88o43′), Ulan-Bator, 30.VII.1968, Emeljanov, narrow red rectangular card with printed name “ Holotypus ”, white card with handwritten name “ Apalochrus puncticollis Wittm. ” and printed words “W. Wittmer det.”; Holotypus of Apalochrus chamaeleon Evers, 1971 , male, ( Fig. 4 ), white photo-printed geographic label “ MONGOLIA Bajan- Ölgij aimak, am Fluss Chovd, gol bei der Stadt Ölgij 1 750 m Exp. Dr. Z. Kaszab 1968”, white printed label “Nr. 1046 30.VI.1968 ”, narrow red rectangular card with printed name “ Holotypus ”, red card with handwritten name “ Apalochrus chamaeleon Evers, 1969 ” and printed words “A. Evers det.”.

New material. Mongolia, Gobi-Altai aimak: 20 km S of Altai somon, 21.VI.1999, P.Ya. Ustyuzhanin— 1 male ( SCH); Bajan-Ulege aimak: N bank of Horgon-Nur Lake, 15.VII.1978, E. Gurieva— 1 male, 9 females ( ZISP, SCH); 15 km N DolunDzhangyz-AgachGol river, 21.7.1978, E. Gurieva— 2 females ( ZISP, SCH); Zavhan aimak: 30 km N Gurvan-Bulak, Huh-Nur, h~ 3000–3500 m, high-altitude Kobresia-Festuca steppe, 10.VII.1971, Medvedev— 1 male, 2 females ( ZISP, SCH); near Ulyasutai, (N47o44′, E96o50′), Bogden-Gol river, 23.VI.1896, Klementz— 1 male, 1 female ( ZISP); Ara-Hangai aimak: 35 km S Tsahir, Hoit-Terhin-Gol river, 27–28.VI.1978, Sugonyaev— 1 male, 1 female ( ZISP); Russia, Yakutia: Yakutsk, 20.VI.1927, Nikiforov— 1 male ( SCH); idem, Yakutsk environs, 15.VI.1915, Yurinsky— 1 male ( SCH); idem, 1901, Olenin – 2 males, 2 females ( ZISP, SCH); Namskii ulus, Namskoe vill., left bank of Lena river, 90 km E of Yakutsk, (N58o40′, E125o21′), 17.VII.1920, L. Bianki— 1 female ( ZISP); idem, Nikolskaya Slobodka, 26.VII.1904, Gerz— 1 female ( ZISP); right bank of Lena river, near Yarmonskii Pass (N62o01′, E120o95′), 1891, Cherskii— 2 males, 2 females ( ZISP, SCH); Krasnoyarskii Krai: Kuskun vill. (N55o57′, E93o35′), 4.VII.1897, Cherskii— 1 female ( ZISP); Altai Republic: Kosh-Agach environs, (N49o59′, E88o39′), 20, 21, 22, 30.VI.1907, 11.VII.1907, E. Rodd— 8 males, 7 females ( SCH); Tuva: Mongun-Taiga kozhuun, Mugur-Aksy, (N50o22′, E90o25′), 1972, B.A. Korotiaev— 1 male, 3 females ( ZISP, SCH); Tes-Hem kozhuun, S of Samagaltai, Shara-Nur Lake (N50o13′, E94o34′), 3.VI.1989, V.K. Zinchenko— 1 male ( SCH).

Light form: Russia, Tuva: “northern shore Tore-Khol lake, 25 km S Ersin, 3.VI.1999, B.M. Kataev— 1 female ( ZISP); Mongolia, Bajan-Ulege aimak: S bank of Dund-Nur Lake (near Tsagan-Nur) 9.VII.1978, E. Gurieva— 1 female ( ZISP).

Description. Male ( Figs 2–6 ). Body dark-brown to black, lacking metallic luster, head, pronotum, scutellum and elytra black (excepting yellow with black median part of the disc in “light” form from Mongolia), labrum, mandibles, mouthpart area, palpi, lateral sides of 1–4th antennomeres, tarsi and apices of femora and elytra lightbrown, underside of the body black-brown. Thoracic mesepimera brown, vesicles yellow.

Head not narrower than pronotum, very slightly impressed in a middle, eyes slightly protruding, small and round, frons flat; genae short and straight; clypeus narrow, transverse, straight; labrum narrow, transverse; palpi with apical segment securiform, wide, triangular, slightly archly cut at apex, 3.5 times wider than short transverse triangular 2nd segment and 1.2 times longer than triangular 1st segment; surface of head dull, densely punctured, with indistinct microsculpture, densely covered with light fine long and curved pubescence, several long black erect bristles (3–5) are set on the temple behind the eyes. Antennae slightly flattened, 2.5 mm long, reaching the upper ¼ of elytra; 1st segment slightly enlarged and clavate, 2nd segment small, round, almost completely invisible, because strongly hidden by the 1st segment, 3–10th segments cylindrical, the 3rd segment the longest, 1.5–1.7 times longer than the 1st, apical segment subcylindrical, evenly rounded at the tip; surface evenly covered with very short golden, and sparse erect brown hairs visible on outer sides of antennomeres.

Pronotum noticeably narrowed from apical fifth to base; anterior margin slightly convex; posterior margin straight; lateral sides evenly rounded; basal half of lateral sides and basal side distinctly marginate; surface in the middle of the disc sparsely and finely punctured, with indistinct microsculpture, dull, and on lateral slopes densely and roughly punctured and slightly wrinkled near anterior angles; disc evenly covered with fine curved adpressed and semi-erect short light hairs.

Scutellum small, semi-round, transversal, almost completely covered by pronotum, sparsely punctured and covered with brown short semi-erect pubescence.

Elytra oblong, subparallel, evenly and slightly widened just behind the base and narrowed in the upper fifth, at base not wider than pronotum; humeri small, slightly protruding; apices evenly rounded, simple; disc distinctly marginate on external sides and along suture, margination not elevate; surface dull, sparsely punctured, with distinct microsculpture, evenly covered with brown adpressed pubescence and elongate semi-erect hairs.

Hind wings normally developed.

Legs not long; posterior femora not reaching elytral apices; all tibiae thin, straight, simple, femora wide; all tarsi 5-segmented, slightly compressed and elongate, 2nd segment in anterior tarsi with short transverse comb above; claw-segment longest, somewhat longer than 1st and 2nd in anterior legs, equal to 1st and 2nd in posterior, and 1.2 times shorter than 1st and 2nd in intermediate; claws thin, narrow and sharp, with small dent at base.

Ventral body surface densely punctured, semi-shining, evenly and sparsely covered with fine, depressed dark pubescence; metathorax simple. Pygidium transverse, evenly narrowed and rounded distally, with simple straight apex ( Fig. 24 ), ultimate abdominal ventrite bilaciniate, narrow, transverse, with apices curved inwards ( Fig. 25 ), aedeagus simple, not curved, narrow, endophallus with narrow sharp inner tube from base to apex and a row of 10– 11 strong small denticles above disposed like in “bandolier” and a curved denticle near apex of the inner tube ( Fig. 26 ), tegmen long, “butterfly-shaped with thin and pointed parameres and widened base ( Fig. 27 ).

Female. Similar to male, except as follows: antennae narrower and shorter; elytra strongly widened behind the middle; claw segment shorter.

Length 4.5–5.0 mm, width (at elytral base) 1.6–1.8 mm.

Distribution. Siberia from Altai to Yakutia and Chukotka, Mongolia (30 (quadrate).

Remarks. The species is widely distributed in North Asia and Mongolia and varies considerably in size and colouration of the body. That is why several synonyms are found among Apalochrini described from Siberia and Mongolia.

The species Apalochrus chamaeleon Evers, 1971 was described from Mongolia one year later than A. puncticollis Wittmer, 1970 . An investigation of holotypes shows that these two species represent one taxon ( Fig. 4 ). The strong similarity between P. puncticollis and P. chamaeleon requires a “name-bearing type to define the nominal taxon objectively” (International Code, 1999: Article 75.1.); therefore P. chamaeleon is a junior synonym of P. puncticollis .

In describing Apalochrus chamaeleon Evers presented A. chamaeleon var. chameleonoides Evers : “…Das Exemplar mit gelber Naht und Seitenrand nenne ich var. chamaeleonoides var. nov . ” ( Evers, 1971: 233). An unusual contrasting yellow-black colouration of elytra is only a variation meeting amongst specimens from southern regions and cannot be considered as a character for a different taxon. According to the International Code (1999) chamaeleonoides cannot be considered as a good taxon: “45.5. Infrasubspecific names. A name expressly proposed to denote an infrasubspecific entity is not an available name…45.6.1. it is infrasubspecific if its author expressly gave it infrasubspecific rank, or if the content of the work unambiguously reveals that the name was proposed for an infrasubspecific entity…45.6.3. it is deemed to be infrasubspecific if it was first published after 1960 and the author expressly used one of the terms "variety" or "form" (including use of the terms "var.", "forma", "v." and "f.")”.

Troglocollops eversi Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1988 was described from Russian Altai, near Kosh-Agach village and has already been transferred from Troglocollops ( Tshernyshev, 1994) : “The species T. eversi Iablokoff- Кhnzorian is not discussed here, as the taxonomic characters enumerated by Iablokoff-Кhnzorian [1988] in the description of this species (i.e. temples long, with a bunch of long erect spines; apical segments of the maxillar antennae wide and triangular in shape; antennae narrowly beaded, seemingly 10-segmented; the 3rd and 4th antennal segments narrow, almost cylindrical, etc.) allow one to conclude that T. eversi belongs in fact to Apalochrus ”. This species is a junior synonym of P. puncticollis as became obvious after comparison of the photographs of the T. eversi holotype kindly sent by M. Kalashian together with the holotype of P. puncticollis .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 10. External appearance of Protapalochrus Ev. species, males. P. arcticus (L. Medvedev, 1958), holotypus (1); P. puncticollis (Wittmer 1970), dark form (2); P. puncticollis (Wittmer 1970), light form (3), holotypus, dorsal (5), lateral (6); P. festivus (Zoubkoff, 1833), (7); P. persicus (Champion, 1920), holotypus (8); P. fedtschenkoi (Solsky, 1882), (9); P. flavolimbatus (Mulsant et Rey, 1853), (10). Scale bar 1.0 mm.

FIGURES 20 – 30. Protapalochrus (Latapalochrus) arcticus (L. Medvedev, 1958), holotype, male, (20 – 23, 29, 30 (asterisk )) and P. (Latapalochrus) puncticollis (Wittmer 1970), male (24 – 28, 30 (quadrate )); pygidium (20, 24); abdominal ventrite (21, 25); aedeagus, lateral (22, 26); tegmen (23, 27); original labels (28, 29); distribution map (30). Scale bar 1.0 mm.