Lophopoeum kawense Roguet, 2022

Monné, Miguel A., Botero, Juan Pablo, Olivier, Renan Da Silva & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2024, South American Acanthocinini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae): new species, synonymy, description of females, and notes, Zootaxa 5519 (3), pp. 345-383 : 372

Lophopoeum kawense Roguet, 2022

( Figs 75–77, 80 )

Lophopoeum kawense Roguet, 2022: 66 .

Lophopoeum kawensis ; Monné, 2024b: 147 (cat.).

Lophopoeum paiolai Monné et al., 2023: 469 . Syn. nov.

Lophopoeum bimaculatum ; Monné et al., 2020b: figs 45–46 (female; misidentified).

Lophopoeum fuliginosum ; Wappes et al., 2011: 5 (misidentified).

Lophopoeum meridianum ; Santos-Silva et al., 2020a: 4 (misidentified).

Remarks. Roguet (2022) described L. kawense based on males and females from French Guiana. Monné et al. (2023) described L. paiolai based on males and females from French Guiana and Brazil (Amazonas, Rondônia, and Minas Gerais). Comparison of the original descriptions and photographs of the types allowed concluding that L. paiolai is a junior synonym of L. kawense .

Monné et al. (2020b) separated Sternacutus Gilmour, 1961 from Lophopoeum in the alternative of couplet “26:” “Apex of the elytra with outer angle not spiniform,” leading do Lophopoeum ; and “Apex of the elytra with outer angle spiniform or distinctly projected,” leading to Sternacutus . Since the species currently included in Sternacutus have features very variable, suggesting that it is composed by more than one genus, it is not possible to provide a reliable difference between it and Lophopoeum . This is because there are species with elytral apex rounded, truncate, or with outer angle projected in Sternacutus , but also with the outer angle slightly projected in Lophopoeum ; shape and location of the lateral tubercles of the prothorax variable in both genera, but usually closer to the middle than posterolateral angles in Lophopoeum and closer to posterolateral angles than the middle in Sternacutus ; and humeral carina from well marked to absent in Sternacutus , at most slightly marked in Lophopoeum . Not rare, the position of the lateral tubercles of the prothorax is on a position that may include the species in both genera. This is because they are located about middle of the area between the middle of the prothorax and the posterolateral angle.

Based on the photograph of a specimen identified as Lophopoeum fuliginosum Bates, 1863 from Bolivia ( Fig. 75 ), taken by the late James E. Wappes and sent to Larry G. Bezark (personal communication), it is possible to know that it belongs to L. kawense . In L. fuliginosum ( Fig. 74 ), the centrobasal crest of the elytra is longer and without erect setae, while in L. kawense it is shorter and has abundant erect setae dorsally. Furthermore, the elytra are more distinctly triangular than in L. kawense , and there is no dark pubescent macula on anterior half of dorsal surface (present in L. kawense ). Furthermore, we examined a specimen of L. kawense from Bolivia. Therefore, we are formerly excluding L. fuliginosum from the Bolivian fauna.

Monné et al. (2020b) illustrated a female in dorsal and ventral habitus as L. bimaculatum (Gilmour, 1961) . However, this female ( Figs 76–77 ), which was identified in the MZSP collection as L. bimaculatum , also belongs to L. kawense . The true L. bimaculatum is very similar to L. kawense but the body is distinctly slender and longer ( Fig. 78 ; see also photographs of the types on Bezark 2024).

Lophopoeum kawense is also very similar to L. meridianum Fisher, 1938 ( Fig. 79 ), but in the latter the tibiae have no yellowish ring and the tarsi are entirely dark. Santos-Silva et al. (2020) illustrated a female of L. kawense from the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo as L. meridianum ( Fig. 80 ), establishing a new state record. We are formally excluding L. meridianum from the fauna of the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo.

The elytral pubescent pattern and shape of elytral apex (truncate, slightly oblique or rounded) and lateral tubercles of the prothorax (from slightly to strongly narrowed on its apical half) are quite variable in L. kawense , easily leading to misidentification. Lophopoeum kawense is also very similar to Sternacutus jubapennis (Fisher, 1938) ( Figs 72–73 ), which suggests that this latter may belongs to Lophopoeum and not Sternacutus Gilmour, 1961 , especially specimens of the former with elytral apex obliquely truncate. However, S. jubapennis has the sides of the dark pubescent area located about middle of elytra directed forward, while in L. kawense it is directed backward.

With the synonymy and correction of misidentifications, L. kawense is now known from Bolivia, French Guiana, and Brazil (Amazonas, Rondônia, Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo).

Material examined (only specimen representing the new record). BOLIVIA (new country record), Santa Cruz: 5 km SSE Buena Vista , 17°29’96”S 63°39’13”W, 440 m, Hotel Flora & Fauna, 1 female, 1.XII.2005, R. Clarke leg. ( FSCA) .

Figures

FIGURES 72–80. 72–73) Sternacutus jubapennis (Fisher, 1938), holotype, by Jesus Santiago Moure: 72) Dorso-oblique habitus; 73) Dorsal habitus. 74) Lophopoeum fuliginosum Bates, 1863, holotype, by Jesus Santiago Moure. 75) Lophopoeum kawense, L. fuliginosum sensu James E. Wappes, dorsal habitus. 76–77) Lophopoeum kawense, L. bimaculatum (Gilmour, 1961) sensu Monné et al. (2020b), female: 76) Dorsal habitus; 77) Ventral habitus. 78) Lophopoeum bimaculatum, male, dorsal habitus, from Monné et al. (2020b). 79) Lophopoeum meridianum Fisher, 1938, holotype, dorsal habitus, by Jesus Santiago Moure. 80) Lophopoeum meridianum sensu Santos-Silva et al. (2020a), female from Espírito Santo, dorsal habitus.