Alaolacon candezei Fleutiaux, 1928

Arimoto, Koichi & Arimoto, Hisayuki, 2017, The genus Alaolacon Candeze, a senior synonym of the genus Eumoeus Candeze (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Agrypninae), ZooKeys 656, pp. 85-110 : 89-91

Alaolacon candezei Fleutiaux, 1928 Figures 1-3, 4-11, 12-16

Alaolacon candezei Fleutiaux, 1928: 177 (original description; type locality: Malaysia, East Malaysia (Sabah), Banggi Island).

Type material.

Holotype. Female, Banggi Island (located off the northern coast of Borneo), Sabah, Malaysia, Waterstradt leg. [MNHN] (Fig. 3). Label data: “TYPE”; [female symbol]; "Banguey/ Borneo/ Waterstradt" "= cyanipennis Cand.?/ Collection FLEUTIAUX"; " Alaolacon / candezei / Fleut. type/ Collection FLEUTIAUX"; " Alaolacon / candezei Fleut./ COLLECTION FLEUTIAUX"; “Muséum paris/ Coll./ E. Fleutiaux".

Diagnosis.

Body black, elytra blue and with metallic luster, legs red-black; setae white; frontal depression moderate; eye small; female antennomere III subpectinate, 1.2 × as long as wide; prothorax almost as long as wide, widest posteriorly; pronotum with anterior angles bisinuate, median longitudinal depression shallow, not reaching anterior margin or base, punctate; anterior angles of hypomeron rounded; prosternal spine inclined weakly behind procoxae; scutellum concave laterally, widest near posterior 2/5; hind wings without wedge cell, with cross vein between veins MP4 and CuA2 located at contact point between veins MP3 and MP4; female sternite VIII with apex concave.

Measurements.

BL: 24.0, BW: 8.35, MIE: 2.56, MAE: 3.47, OI: 74, PL: 7.64, PML: 6.67; PW: 7.70, PI: 99, EL: 15.7, EW: 8.35, EI: 188.

Redescription of female.

Body (Figs 1, 2) shiny; elytra with weak metallic luster. Color. Body black; mouth-parts brown, mandible black, galea and lacinia orange; elytra black-blue; pronotosternal sutures and legs red-black; tarsal claws yellow-brown. Hairs. Body covered with white flatted setae; antennomere I and legs with intermixed brown and white setae; antennomeres II-XI with brown setae. (Most setae of elytra lost.)

Head. Frontal depression moderate (Fig. 4). Eyes small. Antennomere II conical; antennomere III longest, subpectinate, 1.2 × as long as wide, 3.0 × times as long as II; apical half part of antennomere XI thinner than its basal half part (Fig. 5: dotted line). Apical maxillary palpomere 1.6 × as long as wide (Fig. 6).

Prothorax almost as long as wide, widest posteriorly; hind angles straight posteriorly. Pronotum with anterior angle bisinuate; median longitudinal depression shallow, not reaching anterior margin or base, punctate. Hypomeron with anterior angles rounded (Fig. 8). Prosternal spine inclined weakly (at 8 degrees) behind procoxae (Fig. 7). Scutellum (Fig. 10) 1.2 × as long as wide, concave laterally, widest near posterior 2/5. Hind wings with cross vein between veins MP4 and CuA2 apparent, not completely connected with CuA2, located at contact point between veins MP3 and MP4 (Fig. 11: arrow); wedge cell absent. Elytra widest on basal half; intervals with uniformly small punctures.

Abdomen. Ventrite V 0.59 × as long as wide. Tergite VIII (Fig. 12) truncate apically. Sternite VIII (Fig. 13) widest at apical 1/3, apex concave; spiculum ventrale1.4 × longer than sternite VIII.

Genitalia (Fig. 14). Ovipositor with coxites not sclerotized at apex (Fig. 15). Bursa copulatrix with three short sacs (Fig. 16: arrows); without sclerotized structures.

Male.

Unknown.

Distribution.

Malaysia: Sabah: Banggi Island.

Remarks.

This species is similar to Alaolacon cyanipennis Candèze, 1865 in large body size (24.0 mm), black body and elytra with metallic luster, but is distinguished by the following contrasting characters ( Alaolacon cyanipennis in parentheses): female antennomere III pectinate (Fig. 5) (female antennomere III trapezoidal); prothorax widest posteriorly (Fig. 1) (prothorax widest at mid-length except for posterior angles, Fig. 17); scutellum widest near posterior 2/5 (Fig. 10) (scutellum near posterior 1/3); wedge cell of hind wings absent (Fig. 11) (wedge cell of hind wings present, Fig. 18); female sternite VIII with apex concave (Fig. 13) (female sternite VIII with apex rounded).

This species are known only from the female holotype. We predict that the males also exhibit blue elytra and with metallic luster, scutellum widest near posterior 2/5, hind wings without wedge cell and with cross vein between veins MP4 and CuA2 located at contact point between veins MP3 and MP4.