Pareuryaptus chalceolus
Creators: name: Fedorenko, D. N.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Carabidae
Pareuryaptus
Pareuryaptus chalceolus

description: 7. Pareuryaptus chalceolus (Bates, 1873)
Figs 14, 22, 30, 35, 92, 116–117, 126, 132, 143.
Bates, 1873: 328 (Trigonotoma; Hong Kong); 1889: 276; Tschitschérine, 1900: 162; Kuntzen, 1914: 62; Andrewes, 1924: 469; 1930: 353; Jedlička, 1962: 316; Dubault et al., 2008: 206, 208; Roux et al., 2016: 84; Li et al., 2022: 10. — annamensis Jedlička, 1962: 313 (Trigonotoma; ‘Cuatung’ [= Cua Tung, Quang Tri Pr.]). —? ssp. formosanus Jedlička, 1962: 314 (Trigonotoma; ‘Takao’, Taiwan); Dubault et al., 2008: 206, 208; Li et al., 2022: 12.
MATERIAL. 57♂♂, 31♀♀ (SIEE), Vietnam, Ha Giang Province, Bat Dai Son Natn. Park, Thanh Van env., h~ 950 m, 23°06′01″N 104°58′25″E, cornfield, 14–22.IV.2022 (D. Fedorenko); ♀ (ZIN), ‘ China’, ‘ Trigonotoma / chalceola/ H.W. Bates./ Ex coll. H.W. Bates.’; ♀ (ZIN), ‘ Hong Kong / Trigonotoma / chalceola/ H.W. Bates. / Ex coll. H.W. Bates.’; ♂, China; ♀, Hong Kong.
Aedeagus and internal sac examined in five or two males, respectively; genitalia and reproductive tract examined in two females.
DIAGNOSIS. A small-sized species, easily recognizable chiefly by apical two maxillary palpomeres being particular in shape, terminal palpomere somewhat oval, very short and wide, twice as long as penultimate one. Mandibles laterally rounded; antennal scape barely shorter than antennomeres 2 to 5 combined. Pronotum densely punctate along all margins except apex, with median line reaching base and deepened in basal half; sides straight or indistinctly sinuate in front of very obtuse, blunt to rounded, basal angles; posterolateral seta in or slightly anterior to the angle. Elytral microsculpture very superficial, consisting of moderately to slightly transverse meshes. Internal sac of aedeagus with a bifid basal bulb (Fig. 126).
REDESCRIPTION. BL 10.7–12.4 mm. Body dorsum shiny black, sometimes elytra with nearly indistinct greenish luster.
Pronotum indistinctly cordate (Fig. 92); lateral bead rather narrow in apical third, moderately wide behind, wider basally. All margins moderately punctate, densely so along base (not seldom rather sparsely on each side of median line), densely to confluently punctate in basal foveae, densely at bottom of lateral groove and on each side of this groove in basal two thirds where punctures almost reach lateral margin. Basal foveae narrow and very deep, inner basal sulcus shallow and indistinct from dense punctation.
Elytral intervals convex to almost flat on disc.
Posterior inclination of prosternal process costate and moderately wide. Propleura with 0–3, sometimes eight, coarse punctures.
Aedeagus (Figs 116–117, 126, 132, 143) more or less symmetrical; internal sac perpendicular to apical half of aedeagus, with distal part long; preapical bulb large, dorsal vesicles distant from dorsal sclerite, proximal vesicle very small yet traceable, distal one minute and nearly indistinct.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. Southern China (Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao [Andrewes, 1924], Fujian, Hainan, Taiwan [Kuntzen, 1914]), Vietnam: Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh, Thai Binh, Hoa Binh, Quang Tri, Ninh Thuan provinces, south to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon [Bates, 1889]). For distribution map see Lee et al. [2022].
HABITATS AND HABITS. In the environs of the Bat Dai Son National Park, adults of this species occured on exposed cornfield ground in very large numbers in the night-time.
COMMENTS. Jedlička [1962] discriminated his P. formosanus from P. annamensis chiefly by the pronotum densely (vs. sparsely) punctate, combined with subtle differences in the body colour as well as in shape of the pronotum, BL being 10– 11 mm in P. formosanus, 12 mm in P. annamensis or 11 mm in P. chalceolus. Dubault et al. [2008] recognized P. formosanus as a subspecies of P. chalceolus distinctive from the nominotypical subspecies in only having the body smaller, yet they did not indicated BL for these subspecies separately each. Li et al. [2022] discriminate the only examined specimen of P. ch. formosanus from P. ch. chalceolus by the pronotum sparsely (vs. densely) punctate between the basal foveae. This difference is just the opposite to that in the original description, and the body lengths, 11.7 mm or 11.9–14.5 mm, respectively, are hardly comparable because of highly limited material of the former subspecies.
It follows that all these ‘intersubspecific’ differences are controversial and very slight; some of them may have come from individual or perhaps clinal variability of not more than single species. Yet, I refrain here from formally synonymizing P. formosanus and P. chalceolus because no specimen of P. formosanus has been examined by me.
description: Published as part of Fedorenko, D. N., 2024, Notes on Trigonotoma and Pareuryaptus (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Pterostichini) from Vietnam, pp. 43-71 in Russian Entomological Journal 33 (1) on pages 64-66, DOI: 10.15298/rusentj.33.1.05, http://zenodo.org/record/14162968