identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
6874F252A852FD6465F00097D91485E9.text	6874F252A852FD6465F00097D91485E9.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Cyphopisthes dohertyi (Paulian 1942)	<div><p>Cyphopisthes dohertyi (Paulian, 1942)</p><p>Figs. 1–5</p><p>Philharmostes Dohertyi Paulian, 1942: 71 (incorrect original spelling, description)</p><p>Cyphopisthes dohertyi: Paulian 1978: 512 (new combination, redescription, key); Ocampo &amp; Ballerio 2006: 185 (catalogue)</p><p>Type material examined. Holotype: type / Doherty / India Or. Manipur / Fry Coll. 1905-100 / Cyphopisthes Dohertyi sp. nov. det. R. Paulian 1931 (BMNH) . Paratype: Doherty / India Or. Manipur / Fry Coll. 1905-100 / Cotype / Cyphopisthes Dohertyi Paul. (MNHN) .</p><p>Additional material examined. 1♂, 2♀, CHINA: Guangxi, Baise, Napo County, Mt. Meilin [DZüƜ], 1145 m, leg. Jiaheng Chen (ZCLC) ; 4♂, 3♀, CHINA: Guangxi, Baise, Napo County, Pocong Village [坡丛ñ], 1229 m, leg. Lu Qiu (LQC) ; 1♂, 1♀, CHINA: Guangxi, Baise, Napo County, Pocong Village [坡丛ñ], 1229 m, leg. Lu Qiu (ABCB) .</p><p>Redescription. Small-sized Ceratocanthinae: HL: 0.8 mm, HW: 1.3 mm, PL: 1.0 mm, PW: 2.0 mm, EL: 2.4 mm, EW: 1.2 mm, BL: 4.2 mm. Body brown to black, without metallic sheen (Figs. 1, 2A, B). Glabrous (in 20x magnification). Volant.</p><p>Head wider than long (W/L ratio: 1.33), subpentagonal, with short transverse dense comma-shaped punctures around frons; frons smooth, with small shallow sparse simple punctures. Clypeus triangular, with apex sharp; distally with several distinct transversal lines. Genae protruding outwards, genal canthus almost complete, shortly interrupted before reaching occipital area, interocular distance about seven times the maximum width of dorsal ocular area, ventral ocular area larger than dorsal ocular area.Antennae (Fig. 2C) short, with ten antennomeres; scape long and elongate, about half the length of total antennae length, slightly curved and apically clavate; pedicel short and plump; antennal club distinctly longer than funicle (antennomeres 2 to 7). Labrum (Figs. 2D, E) with anterior margin bisinuate, distally truncate by a slight carina bearing a transverse row of long fine erect setae. Mandibles (Fig. 2G) with mesal brush with long setae. Maxilla (Fig. 2F) with lacinia oval, with dense setae; maxillary palpus four segmented.</p><p>Pronotum transverse (W/L ratio: 2.05), with maximum width at middle. Anterior angles triangular. Dorsal surface covered with relatively large ocellate dense punctures on disc (sometimes absent on a smooth longitudinal area on disc), becoming mixed to horseshoe-shaped punctures with opening outwards at pronotal sides, each puncture with a small setigerous pore at middle. Interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter (sometimes equal to puncture diameter only on disc). A symmetrical slight depression present basally at each side of disc.</p><p>Scutellum wider than long, triangular. Covered with dense punctures, punctures at middle ocellate or ocellate mixed to horseshoe-shaped.</p><p>Legs. Protibiae (Fig. 2H) slightly swollen at middle. Outer margin smooth, distally with two teeth in female and with one tooth in male. Inner margin with setae, apical spur short. Mesotibiae (Fig. 2I) slightly narrower at distal third. Outer margin with short setae. Inner margin with few setae, seta at middle longer and stronger than the others, two apical spurs present, straight in females and with the inner one bent inwards in males. Metatibiae (Fig. 2J) subtriangular, inner margin slightly sinuate; both outer and inner margins with setae, setae at inner margin stronger than those at outer margin; two apical spurs present.</p><p>Elytra slightly longer than wide (W/L ratio: 0.94), subsquared in dorsal view, slightly convex. Humeral callus indistinct, without longitudinal lines. Elytral punctation dense (interpunctural distance inferior than punctation diameter); proximal third covered by dense horseshoe-shaped punctures with opening backwards; median third covered by relatively elongate dense horseshoe-shaped punctures often mixed to relatively elongate ocellate punctures, punctation along elytral suture made of elongate comma-shaped punctures or identical to the one of the remaining surface of elytra; distal third covered by dense ocellate punctures. Peseudoepipleura medially with elongate transverse horseshoe-shaped punctures, with a narrow opening upwards, mixed to transverse elongate ocellate punctures, distally with only transverse elongate ocellate punctures. Marginal area (area between striated articular area and inferior sutural stria) present (Fig. 2B), relatively narrow, starting at about humeral callus, about one-third of elytral length. Striated articular area present (Fig. 2B), relatively narrow and short.</p><p>Male genitalia (Guangxi specimens only) (Figs. 3A–C, F). Aedeagus overall weakly sclerotized, with only parameres well sclerotized: parameres sharp and distinctly curved (lateral view); ventral extensions of the parameres present, sclerotized and curved ventrad. Phallobase membranous; internal sac with a flagellum-like curled narrow long temone present. Spiculum gastrale (Fig. 3D) elongate and oblique. Female genitalia (Guangxi specimens only): C-shaped spermatheca, with two constrictions proximally.</p><p>Sexual dimorphism. Protibiae: female with two outer apical teeth, male with only one outer apical tooth. Mesotibiae: inner apical spur of males curved inwards, in female inner apical spur is straight.</p><p>Distribution and habitat. Northeast India (Manipur) (Paulian 1942), new record for China (Guangxi). Paulian (1942) wrongly indicated “ Assam, Manikpur” and corrected the mistake in 1978 into “ Assam, Manipur ”. It must be noticed that the current Indian Manipur State in 1942 was part of the Assam Province. The locality labels of the holotype and of the single paratype clearly indicate “ India Or. Manipur ” (Fig. 5D). The Guangxi localities fall within the Northern Indochina Subtropical Forests ecoregion, while the State of Manipur falls within the Mizoram- Manipur-Kachin Rain Forests ecoregion (Wikramanayake et al. 2002). The Guangxi specimens were found in a secondary montane broadleaf evergreen forest characterized by the high diversity of understory vegetation, and the wet and rainy climate.</p><p>Biology. Representatives of the genus Cyphopisthes are known to occur in termite nests, in leaf litter or are caught through flight intercept traps (Ballerio 2013; Wang 2025). However, in Guangxi, on Mount Meilin, individuals of this species were collected standing on green leaves of alive plants, along a road in the undergrowth of a secondary montane broadleaf forest during night (Fig. 4C).</p><p>Remarks. Cyphopisthes Gestro, 1898 is a genus currently comprising 13 species (Paulian 1978; Ballerio 2013; Ballerio &amp; Grebennikov 2016; Wang 2025). The genus occurs in the Oriental and Australasian Regions, with a wide geographic range spanning from Northeast India to Southern Queensland, with a doubtful record from New Caledonia (Paulian 1978; Ballerio 2013; Ballerio &amp; Grebennikov 2016) (Fig. 7). The phylogenetic analysis based on morphological data by Ballerio &amp; Grebennikov (2016) supported a clade formed by Cyphopisthes, Ebbrittoniella Martínez, 1962, and Paulianostes Ballerio, 2000, confirming the hypothesis proposed by Ballerio (2000b). This group of genera shares the truncate labrum, with a distinct plate-like structure (see Fig. 2D and E of this paper and also Fig. 4b in Ballerio 2000a). Within this group of three genera, the adults of Cyphopisthes are characterized by the combination of a) pronotum regularly convex (not saddle-shaped in lateral view), b) fore angles of pronotum triangular, c) humeral callus not marked by tubercles or cariniform processes, d) antennal club with antennomeres longer than funicle (excluding scape) and e) W/L ratio of mesotibiae equal to or inferior than 0.2 (Ballerio 2000; Ballerio &amp; Grebennikov 2016; Jiang et al. 2020). The genus Cyphopisthes was erected by Gestro (1898). In 1942 Paulian ascribed all Gestro’s species to the genus Philharmostes Kolbe, 1895, and described Philharmostes dohertyi from India. Later, again Paulian (1978) came back to Gestro’s classification, designated Synarmostes amphicyllis Sharp, 1875 as the type species, and provided a key to the ten species of Cyphopisthes known till then. Subsequently, he described two more species, i.e., C. krikkeni Paulian, 1980 from Sumatra and C. inexpectatus Paulian, 1981 from the Philippines. Ballerio (2000a) transferred C. gestroi to the genus Ebbrittoniella, shortly after (Ballerio 2000b) he redefined the genus Cyphopisthes, transferred C. acromialis (Pascoe, 1860) and C. georyssoides Gestro, 1898 to Paulianostes and suggested that C. inexpectatus Paulian, 1981 was not a true Cyphopisthes . Subsequently, Ballerio (2013) described other two new species from Queensland, Australia. Currently the two main centers of diversity of the genus are the Sundaic Region, with four species, and the Australasian region with five species (Fig. 7), but our understanding of the diversity of the genus is affected by the lack of a complete revision, made difficult by the shortage of available material and by the very homogeneous morphology of the genus, with the identification of species mostly relying on fine details of dorsal punctation and sculpturing, often difficult to assess.</p><p>There are some slight differences between the Guangxi specimens of C. dohertyi and the holotype and paratype from Manipur (to our knowledge the only two known specimens of C. dohertyi before the discovery of the Guangxi population, Figs. 5A–C). The two populations are set apart by more than 1,500 km but, despite the distance, we were unable to find reliable and constant external morphology characters to separate them as distinct species (the holotype and paratype are too old and fragile for allowing dissection therefore their genitalia were not checked). It must be stressed that in the concerned area there are other species of Ceratocanthinae which display wide distributional ranges, e.g., spanning from NE India to the whole Indochinese peninsula (e.g., Madrasostes feae (Gestro, 1898) (Ballerio &amp; Bezděk 2016) and, to a lesser extent, M. tonkinensis (Paulian, 1945) (Ballerio &amp; Maruyama 2025)) . The Guangxi specimens show slightly denser punctation on pronotal disc, more rounded horseshoe-shaped punctures on elytra, the presence of some ocellate punctures mixed to horseshoe-shaped punctures on elytra, and a larger number of ocellate punctures mixed to horseshoe-shaped punctures on pronotum, but we deem all those differences too weak to warrant a separate species status and therefore prudently avoid to describe the Guangxi specimens as a new species. Cyphopisthes dohertyi can be differentiated from the other known species of the genus as follows: C. crux (Sharp 1875) has a much sparser, smaller and shallower dorsal pronotal punctation and a different elytral color pattern, with a distinctive cross-like dark spot, C. szentivanyi Paulian, 1973 has three longitudinal rows of dense recumbent setae on elytra, C. minutus Paulian, 1978 has a very small dorsal ocular area, C. luzonicus Paulian, 1978 has the proximal third of elytral parasutural area with short transverse comma-shaped punctures and pronotal punctation more spaced-out, all the remaining species have one or two longitudinal lines departing from elytral humeral callus and shortly extending backwards and which are absent in C. dohertyi . Currently the species most similar to it is C. erlangshen (see below under C. erlangshen for differential characters).</p><p>The aedeagus of Cyphopisthes species is characterized by the presence of small sharp parameres and is weakly sclerotized, especially the phallobasis, hence its observation is often difficult, in particular when extracted from dry specimens or specimens preserved in ethanol for a long time (ethanol hardens soft structures, making their observation difficult). In the case of the Chinese specimens of Cyphopisthes dohertyi the aedeagus has a distinctive structure which was not previously recorded for Ceratocanthinae: all over the length of the internal sac there exists a flagellum-like sclerotized structure, which we tentatively interpret as a modified temone (Figs. 3A–C, F). The discovery of this structure by the first author led the second author to dissect other species of the genus in his collection, and a species from Borneo ( Cyphopisthes cf. wallacei) had a similar structure, although more pronounced (Fig. 6), which looks like a distally sclerotized temone-like structure. The availability of fresh material representing more species could hopefully shed more light on the exact nature of this structure.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6874F252A852FD6465F00097D91485E9	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Li, Zechuan;Ballerio, Alberto	Li, Zechuan, Ballerio, Alberto (2025): Remarks on the Ceratocanthinae fauna of Guangxi (China) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Hybosoridae). Zootaxa 5711 (2): 258-270, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5711.2.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5711.2.6
6874F252A85BFD6565F00589DE6884B5.text	6874F252A85BFD6565F00589DE6884B5.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Cyphopisthes erlangshen C. - B. Wang 2025	<div><p>Cyphopisthes erlangshen C. -B. Wang, 2025</p><p>Cyphopisthes erlangshen Wang, 2025: 388 (description and iconography)</p><p>Remarks. Wang (2025) described this species on the basis of a single female found on Dayao Mountains (Jinxiu County) in a nest of Hodotermopsis sjostedti (Isoptera: Hodotermopsidae). The type locality is about 1500 km from the localities above listed for C. dohertyi and the overall morphology of the holotype shows close similarities with the Chinese C. dohertyi specimens described above. Based on the photograph of the spermatheca found in Wang (2025), there seem to be differences in the shape of the spermatheca with the spermatheca here illustrated for C. dohertyi, but in the genus Cyphopisthes the spermatheca is weakly sclerotized (Ballerio 2000b) and therefore the differences could not be decisive, being possibly due to a deformation of the spermatheca. Wang (2025) in his differential diagnosis writes that the species closest to C. erlangshen are C. minutus Paulian, 1978, C. wallacei (Pascoe, 1860), and C. crux (Sharp, 1875), based on the marginal area sculpturing. The sculpturing of the marginal area is a character difficult to appreciate and its reliability for species delimitation and identification in the genus Cyphopisthes has still to be confirmed. Based on the second’s author unpublished data, the charachers useful for species-level identification in the genus Cyphopishtes are the punctation patterns of head, pronotum and elytra, the presence of humeral lines, the dorsal setation pattern, the dorsal color pattern, the size of dorsal ocular area, presence/absence of wings, and male genitalia features. Based on this, all the three above listed species fall quite apart from C. erlangshen . In particular they differ from C. erlangshen as follows: C. minutus is a small flightless species with a small dorsal ocular area and very impressed dense dorsal punctation, C. wallacei has a distinct dorsal short thick setation, pronotal punctation made of a mixture of horseshoe-shaped punctures and ocellate punctures and the elytral area near elytral suture made of paired longitudinal comma-shaped punctures, finally C. crux has much sparser pronotal and elytral punctation and a different dorsal color pattern, besides lacking the humeral lines. Wang (2025) also writes that the new species is morphologically very similar to the Australian C. descarpentriesi Paulian, 1977, however the latter has much denser and impressed simple punctation on head disc, and much denser and impressed pronotal and elytral punctation. Actually, based on the current knowledge of Cyphopisthes diversity, the most similar species to C. erlangshen is C. dohertyi, the only differences we could find between these two species, on the basis of the photographs published by Wang (2025), are: the presence of two humeral longitudinal lines on elytra and the lack of ocellate punctures on pronotum.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6874F252A85BFD6565F00589DE6884B5	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Li, Zechuan;Ballerio, Alberto	Li, Zechuan, Ballerio, Alberto (2025): Remarks on the Ceratocanthinae fauna of Guangxi (China) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Hybosoridae). Zootaxa 5711 (2): 258-270, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5711.2.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5711.2.6
6874F252A85AFD6565F00484D9BB8221.text	6874F252A85AFD6565F00484D9BB8221.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Madrasostes deharvengi Gao 2009	<div><p>Madrasostes deharvengi Gao, 2009</p><p>Madrasostes deharvengi Gao, 2009: 155 (original description and iconography), Ballerio &amp; Maruyama 2025: 421 (redescription and iconography).</p><p>Remarks. To our knowledge, this species is known in Guangxi only by the type series (two male specimens collected in the Yachang National Nature Reserve). Recently, Ballerio &amp; Maruyama (2025) recorded the species from Vietnam and provided an iconography, discussing also the puzzling position of this species within the genus Madrasostes (see also below for further details in the discussion under Madrasostes lini).</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6874F252A85AFD6565F00484D9BB8221	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Li, Zechuan;Ballerio, Alberto	Li, Zechuan, Ballerio, Alberto (2025): Remarks on the Ceratocanthinae fauna of Guangxi (China) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Hybosoridae). Zootaxa 5711 (2): 258-270, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5711.2.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5711.2.6
6874F252A85AFD6765F00607D90784ED.text	6874F252A85AFD6765F00607D90784ED.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Madrasostes lini C. - B. Wang 2025	<div><p>Madrasostes lini C. -B. Wang, 2025</p><p>Figs. 8, 9</p><p>Madrasostes lini Wang, 2025: 392 (original description and iconography). Material examined. 1♀, CHINA: Guangxi, Laibin City, Jinxiu County [aeħ县], Dayao Mountains [大NJƜ], 1124 m, 20.XII.2024, leg. Wenyong Feng (ZCLC).</p><p>Complementary description. The species was described on the basis of three males from Dayao Mountains (Jinxiu county). Wang (2025) noted that the male mesotibia has a single apical spur. He did not notice that the inner margin of the mesotibia is bent inwards apically (false apical spur), as it is apparent from photo 4B in Wang’s paper. The first author was able to obtain a single female from Mount Dayao, Jinxiu county, Laibin, Guangxi. The female differs from the male in lacking the false apical spur of mesotibiae (which have a single apical spur like in males) and in having the protibial apical spur less bent inwards apically (Fig. 8B), as often happens in many species of Ceratocanthinae . Wang mentioned that the wings are largely reduced. We here provide an image of one of the wings (Fig. 8E), which reveals that the beetle is micropterous. We here also provide for the first time images of the vaginal palpi, of the mouthparts and of the legs, which will be discussed below.</p><p>Remarks. Madrasostes lini is an enigmatic species, whose attribution to Madrasostes remains doubtful. Like M. deharvengi it shares the presence of a single apical mesotibial spur, the spiculum gastrale with a short manubrium, and the mandibles (Figs. 9A, B) lacking the basal pore typical to the Perignamptus generic group (to which Madrasostes belongs) as defined by Ballerio (2009). Like in M. deharvengi the mandibles have also a quite sharp and developed apex. An unusual feature of the labial palpi is the shape of the third palpomere (Fig. 9E), which is not widened as happens in the Perignamptus generic group. Despite the above mentioned similarities with M. deharvengi, the overall body architecture of M. lini is quite different from the one of M. deharvengi (Fig. 8A). As discussed elsewhere (Ballerio &amp; Maruyama 2025), Madrasostes is a heterogeneous genus, but the shortage of available specimens and the many undescribed species make any decision about its splitting premature. Wang mentioned the presence of anastomosing lines on head and pronotum as the diagnostic character differentiating this species from the other Madrasostes . This character is however present also in other species, such as M. orousseti Paulian, 1981 from the Philippines. Based on what we know on M. lini, this species can be differentiated from the other known Madrasostes by the following combination of characters: a) head sculpturing made of anastomosing deep lines, b) pronotal sculpturing, especially on disc, made of transverse deep comma-shaped punctures (each one having a fine simple puncture inside) often merged together in groups of two to six to form short transverse irregular lines, c) elytra, especially on medial and distal thirds with large very deep simple punctures (a character also found in Madrasostes clypeale Paulian, 1993 and M. thai Paulian, 1987), d) mesotibiae ending with a single apical spur (Fig. 8C), e) male mesotibiae having a false apical spur bent inwards at a right angle, f) metatibiae inner margin with a distinctive toothed proximal widening (Fig. 8D), g) mandibles lacking basal pore, h) mandibles with a sharp and developed apex, i) the third palpomere of labial palpi not widened, j) micropterous.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6874F252A85AFD6765F00607D90784ED	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Li, Zechuan;Ballerio, Alberto	Li, Zechuan, Ballerio, Alberto (2025): Remarks on the Ceratocanthinae fauna of Guangxi (China) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Hybosoridae). Zootaxa 5711 (2): 258-270, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5711.2.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5711.2.6
