Ceresium simplex (White) White, 2005

Lu, Wen & Wang, Qiao, 2005, Newman with discussion of the taxonomic position of the Australian species, O. simplex White (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae), Zootaxa 971, pp. 1-31 : 24-25

Ceresium simplex (White) , comb. nov.

Oemona simplex White (non Gyllenhal), 1855: 331. — Aurivillius, 1912: 116; Mckeown, 1947: 38. Ceresium procerum Olliff, 1890: 74 . ­ Aurivillius, 1912: 124; Mckeown, 1947: 47. Syn. nov.

Material examined

Oemona simplex White. Syntypes, 1 Ψ, Lord Howe Island ( BMNH, Specimen No. 21/ 54–47); 1 ♂ and 1 Ψ, same locality ( BMNH, Specimen No. 18/54–47). Ceresium procerum Olliff. Holotype, Ψ, Lord Howe Island, iii­1888, Saunders (AM, Specimen No. K36078 ).

Having examined Australian and New Zealand Oemona specimens available to us, we found that New Zealand Oemona species differed from the Australian species, O. simplex , at the generic level. For example, O. simplex has the pronotal disc with distinct punctures, from each of which a hair arises; prosternum without a transverse depression, and hind tarsal segment 1 shorter than or as long as segments 2+3. Therefore, O. simplex should be removed from Oemona , which is an exclusive New Zealand genus. Examination of Australian species of the genus Ceresium Newman, 1842 , borrowed from Australian and Melbourne Museums, indicated that O. simplex should be placed into Ceresium .

The species Callidium simplex Gyllenhal, 1817 , was transferred by Olliff in 1888 to Ceresium and then synonymised with Ceresium flavipes ( Fabricius 1792) ( Aurivillius 1912, McKeown 1947). Therefore, the name C. simplex ( Gyllenhal 1817) should become invalid, and the name C. simplex is now used for Whites (1855) species.