Psalidognathus pubescens Quentin and Villiers, 1983

Santos-Silva, Antonio & Komiya, Ziro, 2012, Contribution towards the knowledge of Psalidognathus Gray, 1831 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae), Insecta Mundi 2012 (247), pp. 1-28 : 13

Psalidognathus pubescens Quentin and Villiers, 1983

( Fig. 18, 19 )

Psalidognathus erythrocerus pubescens Quentin and Villiers, 1983: 443 ; Monné and Giesbert 1994: 16 (checklist); Monné 1995: 58 (cat.); Monné and Hovore 2005: 21 (checklist); 2006: 20 (checklist); Monné 2006: 88 (cat.).

Remarks. Psalidognathus pubescens ( Fig. 18, 19 ) is also a species distinct from P. erythrocerus . The original description, associated with the type’s photographs, suggests that the species is much more similar to P. reichei than it is to P. erythrocerus . According to Quentin and Villiers (1983) the males differ from those of P. reichei : head and pronotum more pubescent; teeth of lateral margins of prothorax short and obtuse; elytra very weakly punctate towards apex; the females differ in that antennomere III is 1.5 times the length of scape. In P. reichei males, the head and pronotum are distinctly less pubescent, the teeth of the lateral margins of the prothorax are more acute, and the elytral punctation is coarser and more distinct on apical half; in females antennomere III is more than 1.5 times the length of scape. Other characters that differentiate males of the two species, which were not mentioned by Quentin and Villiers (1983), are the length and the shape of the scape and of antennomere III, and the shape of the cephalic carinae. The photographs of the types show that in males of P. pubescens ( Fig. 18 ) the scape is shorter than in males of P. reichei ( Fig. 14 ), and antennomere III is thicker. Likewise, in P. pubescens the cephalic carinae are closer to each other, mainly at the apex, than they are in P. reichei . It is important to note that, despite what Quentin and Villiers (1983) affirmed regarding the shape of the teeth of the lateral margins of the prothorax (short and obtuse), one of the male paratypes has the teeth as sharp as those in P. reichei .

Jeniš (2010: 21, 94, 95) figured P. pubescens as species distinct from P. erythrocerus , without formalization. However, the figured male (p. 21, 94) does not agree with the photographs of the holotype and male paratypes. The male figured by Jeniš (2010) shows: scape and antennomere III longer and finer; sculpture on apical half of the elytra distinctly weaker than on base; protibiae finer and longer. Likewise, the scape in the females figured (p. 21, 95) is longer and finer than in the female paratypes. Thus, we believe that none of the three specimens figured in Jeniš (2010) under this name correspond to P. pubescens : they are P. reichei .

Geographical distribution. Peru ( Quentin and Villiers, 1983).

Figures

Figure 14-19. Dorsal habitus. 14) Psalidognathus reichei, holotype male. 15) P. reichei, paratype male. 16) P. reichei, paratype female. 17) P. reichei, female. 18) P. pubescens, holotype male. 19) P. pubescens, paratype female. Photos 14, 18, 19 by Eugenio Nearns. Photos 15 and 16 by Noël Mal.