Stomis romani Dvořák, 2001

Loc. typ.: Sichuan, Chola Shan .

= Stomis ludmilae Dvořák, 2001 syn. nov.

Loc. typ.: China, W Sichuan, Dege —S env., 3100–4300 m.

= Stomis jelineki Lassalle, 2003 syn. nov .

Loc. typ.: Sichuan, col de Chola, 5000 m .

= Stomis benesi Dvořák, 2006 syn. nov.

Loc. typ.: China, NW Sichuan, Dege, 3500 m

This species was described upon two specimens, 1 ♂ and 1 ♀, collected on the Chola Shan, in NW Sichuan. In the same paper, Dvořák (2001) described also S. ludmilae upon 1 male specimen collected in Dege, still in NW Sichuan, extremely close to the Chola Shan. The author compared the first species with S. facchinii Sciaky, 1998 and S. chinensis Jedlička, 1932, the second one with S. collucens (Fairmaire 1888) and S. politus Ledoux and Roux, 1995 . Few years later, the same author (Dvořák 2006) described a third species, Stomis benesi, upon eight specimens of both sexes collected in Dege, the same locality from where S. ludmilae had been described. Checking carefully the original descriptions of the three species and the good drawings presented, I have been unable to find clear characters to separate these species, seeing only small variations in the shape of the humeral tooth and in the sinuation of the lateral margins of pronotum. The size given in the original descriptions is 7–7.5 mm for S. romani, 10 mm for S. ludmilae and 8–11 mm for S. benesi . A further species was described by Lassalle (2003) as Stomis jelineki, whose holotype has been collected on the Chola Shan, type locality of S. romani, while the four paratypes were from Dege, type locality of S. ludmilae . Its size was defined in 8–9 mm. Since the literature cited in this work did not mention Dvořák’s work, it is very likely that Lassalle did not know the description of these two species. The good photograph of the habitus and the drawing of the aedeagus correspond very well to those of S. romani Dvořák, 2001 .

I have been able to examine several specimens that allow me to state its systematic position: in my opinion it is a single variable species diffused in the Degé County in North-Western Sichuan, not far from the borders of Tibet and of Qinghai. The body length of the specimens personally examined varies between 7–10.5 mm. For the characters shown, this species belongs to the group of S. deuvei, without the notch on the right mandible, with normal, cylindrical aedeagus and more or less pronounced metallic sheen on the elytra.

I can therefore state the following synonymies:

Stomis ludmilae Dvořák, 2001 = S. romani Dvořák, 2001 syn. nov.

Stomis jelineki Lassalle, 2003 = S. romani Dvořák, 2001 syn. nov.

Stomis benesi Dvořák, 2006 = S. romani Dvořák, 2001 syn. nov.

Description. Habitus as in Fig. 6. The combination of characters allowing to distinguish this species are: length 7–11 mm; integuments dark metallic bronze; body rather convex (Fig. 6); legs and antennae dark brown, rather short and robust; head broad, with mandibles almost as long as the rest of the head; pronotum anteriorly broad, then markedly constricted and sinuate towards the base; elytra oval, evidently widest at the posterior third, with striae rather shallow, gradually shallower towards the sides; humeral tooth well developed. Median lobe of aedeagus with apical portion hardly longer than basal portion; in lateral view straight before apex, in dorsal view evidently constricted and with a small tooth on the left side (Fig. 33). Ratios: El/Pl = 2.13; Ew/Pw = 1.30; El/Ew = 1.51.

Distribution. North-Western Sichuan, Degé County, near the borders of Tibet and of Qinghai

Material examined: W. Sichuan, Mts. 15 km W of Keluodong, 4600–4700 m: 1 ♂ (CW) ; W. Sichuan, Pass 17 km SE-SSE of Ronggai, 4800 m: 1 ♂ (CW) ; W. Sichuan, Mts. 13 km W of Daofu, 4600 m: 1 ♂ (CW) ; W. Sichuan, Chola Shan mts., road Degé-Maniganggo, 4200 m.: 1 ♂ (CS) ; E Tibet, r. Yomda-Degé, 40 km NE Yomda: 1 ♂ (CF) ; Sichuan, Maniganggo, Chola Shan, 4200 m.: 1 ♂ (CF) .