Psalidognathus rufescens Quentin & Villiers, 1983

Santos-Silva, Antonio & Spooner, Amoret, 2021, On some species of Psalidognathus Gray, especially those of the group “ superbus ” (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae), Zootaxa 5023 (3), pp. 389-404 : 392

Psalidognathus rufescens Quentin & Villiers, 1983

Psalidognathus rufescens Quentin & Villiers, 1983: 446 ; Monné, 2021: 166 (cat.).

Psalidognathus victorsinyaevi Lazarev & Marzin, 2019: 475 ; Monné, 2021: 167 (cat.). Syn. nov.

Quentin & Villiers (1983) described P. rufescens based on a single male as follows (translated): “ Length: 48 mm.— Figures 3 and 4 . Entirely reddish, the head, antennae and legs darker. Male. Head narrow; interocular space equal to about a third of an eye when viewed from above; antennal tubercles elevated, subdentate. Mandibles narrow, barely curved at the apex; genae short, angular, the angle emphasized by a thin, very short spine. Antennae long, surpassing the apex of the body by the last three antennomeres; antennomeres III to X clearly bidentate; III with a sensory area occupying the apical half of the ventral border; following antennomeres clearly carinate dorsally. Pronotum long fringed in front and behind, covered with rufous pubescence; sides with three long, narrow spines; scutellum covered with rufous pubescence. Elytra glabrous, finely and very superficially vermiculated in the circum-scutellar region, the rest of the surface very finely punctate; disc with two well marked carinae, showing some transverse ramifications. Legs slender, forelegs narrow, almost straight, with a slight postmedial bulge; metatarsi very long and narrow, metatarsomere I barely shorter than II and III together, the metatarsomere V somewhat longer than the first three metatarsomeres combined. Ventral surface covered with rufous pubescence, denser forward. Ecuador: Loja ( Abbé Gaujon ), male holotype.”

Recently, Lazarev & Marzin (2019) described Psalidognathus victorsinyaevi from Colombia (Valle del Cauca ), and reported: “The species is very close to P. rufescens from Ecuador, but differs by longer mandibulae, distinctly less wide prothorax, small scutellum, dark-brown pronotal and elytral pubescence, darker elytra.”; and, “We include in the type series 3 specimens described from Colombia by Santos-Silva & Komiya (2012) as P. rufescens , because their descriptions of the males totally fits to our materials. Moreover, both males described by Santos-Silva & Komiya (2012) belong to the same area (Valle del Cauca ) as our holotype, or probably to the same population (Cali). A female mentioned by Santos-Silva & Komiya (2012) from the Lackerbeck collection also originated from Colombia. So, three more paratypes are designated here: male, “ COLOMBIA, Valle Del Cauca : male, [no date indicated], L. C. Locarno col. (MZSP)”—Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; male, “Cali (1000 m), male, 10.XII.19745 (sic!), Leon Denhez col. (ZKCO)”—Ziro Komiya Collection, Tokyo, Japan; female, “Colombia, Valle Cosumbo River, Pital R., Big River Calima, 900m, IV.–V.1984, R. MARX, in Coll. LACKERBECK”.”

The characters pointed out by Lazarev & Marzin (2019) to differentiate P. victorsinyaevi from P. rufescens (prothoracic shape, length of the mandibles, size of the scutellum, color of the pubescence, and elytral color) are very variable in all species of Psalidognathus . Furthermore, the photographs of the three males in the original description of P. victorsinyaevi clearly show the variation in the color, which may be practically identical to that in the holotype of P. rufescens ; the same photographs distinctly show variation in the shape of the scutellum (from rounded to triangular), and also that the scutellum in the holotypes of P. rufescens and P. victorsinyaevi are practically identical in size and shape; and the length of the mandibles does not appear to be longer in the types of P. victorsinyaevi . Additionally, the elytra were correctly described as glabrous in P. rufescens and P. victorsinyaevi ; thus, the affirmation that the elytral pubescence is dark brown in the diagnosis makes no sense.

Based on the absence of differences between the two species, we synonymize P. victorsinyaevi with P. rufescens .

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. 1–4) Psalidognathus mygaloides Thomson, 1859, lectotype male: 1) Dorsal habitus; 2) Ventral habitus; 3) Head, dorsal habitus; 4) Labels. 5–8) Psalidognathus thomsoni Lameere, 1885, lectotype male: 5) Dorsal habitus; 6) Lateral habitus; 7) Labels; 8) Head, oblique view. 1–4 by Gérard L. Tavakilian; 5–8 by Eugenio H. Nearns (NMNH).