Cycadophila (Cycadophila) intermedia (Chûjô) Chujo, 2017

Skelley, Paul, Xu, Guang, Tang, William, Lindström, Anders J., Marler, Thomas, Khuraijam, Jibankumar Singh, Singh, Rita & Rich, Stephen, 2017, Review of Cycadophila Xu, Tang & Skelley (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Pharaxonothinae) inhabiting Cycas (Cycadaceae) in Asia, with descriptions of a new subgenus and thirteen new species, Zootaxa 4267 (1), pp. 1-63 : 34-35

Cycadophila (Cycadophila) intermedia (Chûjô) , new combination (incertae sedis)

Pharaxonotha intermedia Chûjô 1967: 39 .

Adult description. No specimen studied, Chûjô’s (1967) description and key characters are repeated here: “Length 5.0 0 mm. Body elongate-oval, lightly convex on dorsum. Head, together with the with basal segments of antennae, dark piceous, but the median area of frons more or less blackish, lustrous, and the antennal clubs light brownish; pronotum pitchy black, with the lateral areas broadly rather dark red-brown (this color broadened forwardly from the base), lustrous; scutellum shiny black; elytra black, lustrous, with the laterio-anterior and posterior areas rather dark red-brown; underside red-brown, with the median areas rather darker than the lateral areas; legs deep redbrown.

Head strongly and closely punctured; frons lightly convex, with a distinct depression at each side of the middle of the anterior part; clypeus not limited from frons, distinctly narrowed forwardly, gently rounded at the front border in a dorsal aspect. Eyes large, much longer than it is broad, distinctly convex and very finely facetted. Antennae robust; 1st segment strongly thickened and dilated terminally, 2nd segment as broad as it is long, 4th~7th segments moniliform, 3rd segment distinctly longer than wide, longer than either the 2nd and 4th segments, 8th segment transverse and broader than the 7th segment but far smaller than the 9th segment, 9th and 10th segments strongly enlarged with the former one semicircular and the latter transverse, 11th segment transverse subovate and distinctly wider than long, 11th segment narrower than either the 10th and 9th segments but very much larger than the 8th segment. Pronotum somewhat broader than long, slightly narrowed forwardly; front border nearly straight and immarginate at the median part, but narrowly concave and marginate at the lateral parts; four corners forming a right angle in each, but not sharply angulate at each tip; lateral borders distinctly marginate, nearly straight, but gently curved inwardly at each, the anterior and basal, extremity; basal angles each forming almost a right angle; basal border narrowly marginate and arched posteriorly at the median part; dorsally lightly convex from side to side, but rather strongly depressed at each laterio-anterior area, strongly and rather loosely punctured on the median area, but very finely and scantily punctured on each lateral area and impunctate on each laterio-marginal area; laterio-basal foveae deeply impressed, strongly elongate triangular in each shape and almost parallel with each other. Scutellum strongly transverse, finely angulate at each point touching the base of the sutural border of elytra, flat and very finely but very sparingly punctured on the surface. Elytra slightly wider at the basal extremity than at the pronotum, but broader at the post-humeral area, gently narrowed posteriorly at the posterior part and widely rounded at the apical border; dorsum lightly convex, narrowly but distinctly marginate at the basal border, with a row of distinct punctures closely along this border; each elytron with 11 files (including a short scutellar and an external marginal file) of distinct punctures (these files of punctures becoming finer and uneven at the posterior area of elytron), and each interstice of these files of punctures with a regularly or rather irregularly arranged file of very fine punctures (the size of these fine punctures consisted of two or three kinds); humeri not so markedly elevated, with a few files of rather larger and fine punctures; elytral epipleuron broad at the base and rather markedly narrowed posteriorly at the basal one-third, but continued to the apex of elytra in a similar width at the posterior two-thirds, finely but not so closely punctured on the whole surface. Underside closely, rather strongly and evenly pubescent-punctate, but the lateral areas of prothorax and the median area of metathorax very finely and scantily pubescent-punctate; abdomen strongly, closely and evenly pubescent-punctate. Legs rather robust, with the femora dilated medially, tibia dilated terminally and each 1st tarsal segment not flattened.”

Type locality. Laos.

Type. According to Chûjô (1967), the holotype is a male with label data: “ LAOS: Muong Sing (Alt. 650 m), NW. of Luang Prabang . 6-10.VI.1960, S. et L. W. QUATE leg.”. Chûjô (1967) reported it to be deposited in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, where it is registered as number 11005. But, it is presently missing and not available for study (Sheperd Myers, pers. comm. 2012). It is the only known specimen of the species.

Remarks. Chûjô’s description and key to C. intermedia are lengthy. Yet, they provide no usable characters that confirm this species is a member of Cycadophila . Other Coleoptera have been mistakenly placed in Pharaxonothinae and Pharaxonotha as pointed out by Skelley (2013). Until the type of C. intermedia is available for study, we can neither confirm nor refute the generic or familial placement of this species. Assuming C. intermedia is a member of Cycadophila , the only usable comments in the description are the pronotal shape, dark body, and elytral color pattern which is an intermediate form as discussed for C. yunnanensis , and a member of the nigra species complex.

Considering our hypotheses that cryptic species remain to be discovered in Cycadophila , we prefer to consider C. intermedia as an incertae sedis, and not to synonymize it until more material has been studied from Laos. The locality Muong Sing in Laos is close to the border region of China, where populations of Cycas sp. aff. collina are known (see Remarks under Cycadophila collina ). Although nine species of Cycas are recognized as being present in Laos by Averyanov et al. (2014), this locality is not identified as harboring cycad populations. It is possible that the beetle has no association with cycads.