Morimospasma paradoxum Ganglbauer 1890
Creators: name: Xie, Guanglin
name: Zou, Xia
name: Wang, Wenkai
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cerambycidae
Morimospasma
Morimospasma paradoxum

description: Morimospasma paradoxum Ganglbauer, 1890
(Figs 1–6, 15–20, 27–44, 63–64, 69)
Morimospasma paradoxum, Ganglbauer, 1890: 80; Aurivillius, 1922: 70; Breuning, 1942: 131; Gressitt, 1951: 348; Breuning, 1961: 318; Chiang et at., 1985: 102; Hua, 2002: 217; Hua et al., 2009: 230, 373; Hubweber et al., 2010: 268. Trachystola difformis, Pic, 1934: 12.
Body size. Male: length 14.0–22.0 mm, maximum width of elytra 5.0–10.0 mm. Female: length 16.5–26.0 mm, maximum width of elytra 7.5–11.0 mm.
Material examined. China: Ningxia: 1 male, Longde, Fengtai Forest Farm, 13 July 2009, leg. Xin-pu Wang and Xiaolin Zhao (HBU); Shaanxi: 1 male, Zhen’an, 19 August 1980, leg. Qilin Feng (SWU); Hubei: 1 male and 1 female, Yichang, Dalaoling Nature Reserve, altitude 1200 m, 1 May 2010, leg. Guanglin Xie; 2 males and 3 females, the same locality, 5 July 2010, leg. Guanglin Xie; 7 males and 2 females, the same locality, 29 April 2011, leg. Guanglin Xie; 5 males and 5 females, the same locality, 30 April 2011, leg. Guanglin Xie; 2 males, the same locality, 24 July 2010, leg. Guanglin Xie; 1 female, the same locality, 26 July 2010, leg. Wei Li; 1 female, Xingshan, Longmenhe Nature Reserve, 27 June 2010, leg. Guanglin Xie; 2 males, Longmenhe Nature Reserve, 27 June 2010, leg. Wei Li; 1 male, Longmenhe Nature Reserve, 5 August 2010, leg. Guanglin Xie; 1 female, Shennongjia Nature Reserve, 18 July 2003, leg. Guanglin Xie; 1 male, Shennongjia Nature Reserve, Wenshui Forest Farm, altitude 1800 m, 20 July 2003, leg. Wenkai Wang (all in YZU); Sichuan: 1 female, Qingchuan, Qingxi town, er’chahe, 1484 m, leg. Xiangwei Meng (YZU); Chongqing: 1 female, Nanchuan, Jinfo Mountain, 24 May 1957, leg. Xionghua Lei (SWU); Anhui: 1 male, Yuexi, Yaoluoping, 30 July 2007, leg. Yibin Ba (HBU).
Distribution. China: Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Anhui (new province record).
Comments. The species is easily distinguished from other members of the genus by the central pronotal protuberance with the anterior half at most shallowly depressed at middle and not forming a deep gap (Figs 28, 31, 34, 37), and the elytral surface from the basal fifth to the top of the apical declivity remarkably flat and sometimes slightly depressed dorsally, nearly vertical dorsal-laterally.
The body size, shape of the central pronotal protuberance and lateral pronotal spine, and the size of tubercles on elytra of the species are variable. One male individual from Ningxia has the body length only 14mm, the central protuberance on the pronotal disc is short with the dorsal surface flat, and the elytral tubercles small (Figs 5, 18, 39–41). One male individual from Anhui has the same body size with the former but the central pronotal protuberance is strongly elevated with the anterior margin broadly and shallowly depressed (Figs 6, 43). However, individuals from Hubei always have the well-developed central protuberance on the pronotal disc and dentate tubercles on the elytral carinae, and the apical portion of the lateral pronotal spine more elongated. Individuals captured in Daolaoling Nature Reserve at the same time and locality present a different appearance: some with large size (Fig. 2, 26 mm), some with small size (Fig. 4, only 16 mm), some with the central pronotal protuberance rounded laterally (Figs 28, 31), some with the central pronotal protuberance distinctly narrowed posteriorly (Figs 34, 37, 40, 43), and some with the central pronotal protuberance with several more distinct depressions on the dorsum (Figs 28, 31).
description: Published as part of Xie, Guanglin, Zou, Xia & Wang, Wenkai, 2014, Note on the genus Morimospasma Ganglbauer with description of two new species from China (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), pp. 441-450 in Zootaxa 3873 (4) on pages 442-443, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3873.4.6, http://zenodo.org/record/227157