Paranhammus, Breuning, 1944

Vitali, Francesco & Chemin, Gerard, 2022, Taxonomic notes about the genus Nephelotus Pascoe, 1866 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae), Zootaxa 5141 (1), pp. 79-86 : 81-83

Paranhammus vs. Nephelotus

( Figs 1–8 )

Breuning (1944 a, b) separated Paranhammus from Nephelotus on the basis of the following characters:

1) Scape with closed ( Paranhammus ) or open cicatrix ( Nephelotus )

2) Antennomere III as long as IV ( Paranhammus ) or longer than IV ( Nephelotus )

3) Mesosternum armed with a rounded tubercle ( Paranhammus ) or unarmed ( Nephelotus )

4) Pronotal base with three ( Paranhammus ) or two ( Nephelotus ) transverse furrows

Actually, both genera have an open cicatrix, antennomere III about as long as IV, unarmed mesosternum and pronotal base with two large furrows. Only a specimen of Mindanao shows a supplementary incomplete superficial transverse impression between these furrows. Thus, all stated differential characters are untrue.

Monohammus marcipor and Nephelotus conspersus show the same body structure and analogous pattern, differing little in antennal colour (dark brown in marcipor and reddish testaceous in conspersus ) and, maybe, the glabrous spot on the pronotal disc (rhomboidal in marcipor and transverse in conspersus ). Both characters can be considered specific or even subspecific. The taxa are also biogeographically related since conspersus and marcipor seem to coexist in Palawan ( Philippines). There is no substantial reason to consider them as belonging to different genera; consequently, the following taxonomic changes are proposed.

Nephelotus Pascoe, 1866

= Paranhammus Breuning, 1944 n. syn.

Nephelotus marcipor ( Newman, 1842) n. comb.

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. 1. HOLOTYPE ♀ Anhammus conspersus J. Thomson, 1865, habitus (photo: G. Chemin); 2. ditto, labels (photo: G. Chemin); 3.=HOLOTYPE=♀ Nephelotus licheneus Pascoe, 1866, habitus (photo: BMNH); 4. ditto, labels (photo: BMNH); 5. ♂ Nephelotus conspersus from Sarawak (photo: BMNH); 6. ditto, labels (photo: BMNH); 7. HOLOTYPE ♂ Monohammus marcipor Newman, 1842, habitus (photo: K. Matsumoto, BMNH); 8. ditto, labels (photo: K. Matsumoto, BMNH).