Amphiops coomani Orchymont, 1926

Fenglong, J. I. A., 2014, A revisional study of the Chinese species of Amphiops Erichson (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Chaetarthriini), Journal of Natural History 48 (17), pp. 1085-1101 : 1086-1089

Amphiops coomani Orchymont, 1926

( Figures 1A–F , and 5A )

Amphiops coomani Orchymont, 1926 d: 246 . – Type locality: Vietnam, Tonkin, Lac Tho near Hoa Binh. For complete synonymy see Hansen (1999).

Amphiops globus Erichson : Jäch and Easton, 1998: 45, misidentification.

Material examined

CHINA: Guangdong: 3 male, 4 female and 5 unsexed spec., Shenzhen, 12–15 August 2006, Fenglong Jia leg. ; 1 spec., Guangzhou, Luogang , 20 April 1956, Zhelong Pu leg. Hainan: 1 male and 2 unsexed spec., Jianfengling , 22 November 1983, Zhihe Huang leg. ; Hong Kong: 2 males, 1 female, 2 December 2012, Wang Tang, Lantau, Paul Aston leg.; 1 female ( ACH), same data as the former. Macau : 4 spec., Macau , 18 August 2012, Fenglong Jia leg. VIETNAM: 1 female, Tonkin, Hoa Binh, A. de Cooman leg.

Differential diagnosis

It is very easy to distinguish A.coomani from other species occurring in the Oriental region by pronotum and elytra with very fine punctures but with distinct coarse systematic punctures, lateroposterior margin of the pronotum strongly roundly curved forwards, resulting in the posterior angle being unclear, anterior margin of the metaventrite without transverse carina and mesocoxae narrowly separated. This species can be distinguished from the most similar species, the Afrotropical A.globus by mesofemora pubescent in basal half (only basal third is pubescent in A.globus ), metafemora only pubescent anteriorly on basal half and not pubescent beneath (pubescent in basal one-fifth in A.globus ), abdominal ventrites glabrous between setiferous punctures [ventrites with dense wrinkles in A.globus ( d’ Orchymont 1926) ].

Taxonomic notes

When A.coomani was described by d’ Orchymont (1926) based on two type specimens, the measurement given was “3.6 × 2.7millim”. This is clearly smaller than the specimens examined by me. The size of these specimens is 3.8–4.2 × 2.7– 2.8 mm. I examined a specimen (length 4.0 × 2.75 mm) from Tonkin: Hoa Binh, Hoa Binh, leg. A. de Cooman deposited in SYSU that has the same characteristics as the specimens from China. Unfortunately the specimen from Tonkin is a female and the identification was therefore not confirmed by study of the aedeagus. However, as the type locality of A.coomani Orchymont is not far away from Hoa Binh, I am treating the specimen from Hoa Binh as A.coomani because it has all characters as described by d’ Orchymont (1926). There is no doubt that the specimens from China and from Tonkin, Hoa Bihn examined for this study are conspecific.

Jäch and Easton (1998) reported A.globus , a very common Afrotropical species, from Macau, China. All specimens I examined from Macau belong to A. coomani which is very similar to A.globus , but clearly differs from it by several characters given above in the diagnosis. Amphiops coomani occurs not only in Vietnam, but also in Indonesia (Java, Sumatra) and South China. Hence, even though I have not had the chance to examine the specimens on which Jäch and Easton’ s (1998) based their record of A.globus , I consider their record as a misidentification of A.coomani . Amphiops globus is therefore excluded from the Chinese fauna.

Distribution

China (Guangdong, Macau, Hainan), Indonesia (Java, Sumatra), Vietnam. New for Guangdong and Hainan.

Figures

Figure 1. Amphiops coomani Orchymont. (A) Habitus; (B) elytra, dorsolateral view; (C) elytra, lateral view; (D) ventral surface; (E) head; (F) head and pronotum, lateral view.

Figure 5. Aedeagi. (A) Amphiops coomani; (B) Amphiops coelopunctatus; (C–F Amphiops mirabilis, from (C) Guangzhou, (E) Hainan and (D, F) Yunnan; (G, H) Amphiops mater from (G) Guangdong and (H) Yunnan.