Neacanista shirakii (Mitono, 1943)

(Figures 32 & 33)

Acanthocinus shirakii Mitono, 1943: 584 (type locality: “Reimei, Hassenzan, Taiwan ”).

Neacanista shirakii: Gressitt 1951: 518 (catalogue); Breuning 1978: 40 (redescription); Hua 1982: 99 (catalogue); Hua 2002: 218 (catalogue); Nakamura, Makihara & Saito 1992: 95 (catalogue); Chou 2008: 326, fig (male); Hua, Nara, Samuelson & Lingafelter 2009: 95, pl. XCV, fig. 1091 (male & female); Löbl & Smetana 2010: 210 (catalogue).

Type specimens examined. Holotype: male (TARI), acanthocinus shirakii MITONO, DET. T. MITONO (“ acanthocinus shirakii MITONO ” handwriting and “DET. T. MITONO” printed on a rectangular green label with black border in black ink)/ Holo Type (printed on a circular white label with red border in red ink)/ Formosa, Karenko, - 19. VII 20 -VIII 4. T. Okuni, (printed on a rectangular white label with black border in black ink)/ 36 (printed on a rectangular white label with black border in black ink).

Distribution. Chian (Taiwan).

Remarks. Neacanista shirakii was originally placed in the genus Acanthocinus Dejean, 1821 and later Gressitt (1951) transferred it to the genus Neacanista . Based on photographs of the holotype, N. shirakii distinctly differs from N. harmandi, N. laosensis and N. tuberculipenne by the following morphological characters: scape strongly expanded before apex, pedicle distinctly longer than broad, pronotum densely punctured, with a less strong tubercle at each side, profemora more pedunculate. Therefore, the taxonomic status of this species in the genus Neacanista is questionable. However, since there are currently 384 genera and subgenera in the tribe Acanthocinini according to the TITAN database (Tavakilian & Chevillotte, 2014), placing Neacanista shirakii in the correct genus is difficult.