Plateros Bourgeois 1879
Creators: name: Tvardik, David
name: Bocak, Ladislav
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2001
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Lycidae
Plateros

description: <i>Plateros</i> Bourgeois, 1879 <i>Plateros</i> Bourgeois, 1879: 19. Type species: <i>Plateros brasiliensis</i> Lucas, 1857 (by subsequent designation) <i>Diagnosis</i>. Antennomere 3 broader and at least slightly longer than antennomere 2, pronotum without carinae, median longitudinal line channelled basally, forming minute areola at posterior margin, each elytron with 9 weak longitudinal costae connected by transverse costae, male genitalia without paramerae, ovipositor short, length of valvifers similar to those of coxites. <i>Sexual dimorphism</i>. Males and females differ mostly in the relative size of eyes, females having almost regularly eyes much smaller than interocular distance. If male antennae are serrate or flabellate, then female antennae are much slenderer, without or with minute antennomeral processes. <i>Distribution</i>. Worldwide distributed genus, known from all zoogeographical regions and many oceanic islands, absent in New Zealand and Hawaii. The highest diversity is known from tropical rain forests of the Oriental Region. <i>Ecology</i>. The Sulawesi <i>Plateros</i> species were collected in the lower mountain forests in the west Toraja region (Mamasa valley) and on the northern slope of the Lompobatang massif in the southernmost tip of Sulawesi (elevations 1100­1800 m a. s. l.). Adults were slowly moving or sitting on leaves of shrubs and trees of the lower forest canopy stratum. They were only seldom flying during day light and usually were not disturbed even by shaking branches. Larvae of Sulawesi <i>Plateros</i> are unknown, but the development in rotting wood is expected as in relative species in neighbouring regions. Lycids are protected from predators by the presence of several odour and bitter compounds (Moore &amp; Brown 1981), and therefore they have a very strong tendency to form mimicry complexes. Unlike Sulawesi species, <i>Plateros</i> from other regions are often brightly coloured and their body is often wider. The Sulawesi species can be divided in two groups considering general appearance. <i>Plateros flavidus</i>, <i>P. t o l i e n s i s</i> nom. n., and <i>P</i>. <i>lalui</i> sp. n. are brightly yellow coloured and their body is slightly wider. They remind unrelated genera <i>Microtrichalus</i> Pic, 1930 (Metriorrhynchinae, Trichalini), <i>Cautiromimus</i> Pic, 1926 (Metriorrhynchini), and undescribed genus of Lyropaeini (Leptolycinae) occurring in the same area. The second group is characterised by the slender, black body. They remind in general appearance several syntopically occurring <i>Wakarumbia</i> Bocak, 1999 (Metriorrhynchinae, Hemiconderina), <i>Xylobanus</i> Waterhouse, 1879, and <i>Broxylus</i> Waterhouse, 1879 (Metriorrhynchini). The silver pubescence well developed in most black Sulawesi <i>Plateros</i> is similar to those in several species of <i>Wakarumbia</i> and <i>Xylobanus</i> from the same area. Such pubescence has not been found in lycids from other regions and its coevolution in unrelated groups of lycids shows possible selective pressure from predators. <i>Species level relationships</i>. The Sulawesi <i>Plateros</i> species are uniform in most external characters. We found variability in the shape of male genitalia (Figs 1­13), shape of antennae (Figs 20­27), and relative size of eyes. Male genitalia support closer relationships between <i>P. milenae</i> sp. n., <i>P. rubromamasensis</i> sp. n. and <i>P. mamasensis</i> sp. n. They share the sclerotized plate in internal sac (Figs 3 ­6, 11). Additionally <i>P. rubromamasensis</i> sp. n. and <i>P. mamasensis</i> sp. n. posses a shallow groove in the dorsoapical part of phallus (Figs 3, 11). On the other side, the antennomere 3 of <i>P. milenae</i> sp. n. and <i>P. rubromamasensis</i> sp. n. is very similar in shape (Figs 24, 26) and differs from the serrate antennomere 3 in <i>P. mamasensis</i> sp. n. Both small and large eyes were found in this group. Already previous studies (e. g. Bocakova 1997 a, b) showed that eye size is variable within species groups and we expect that the eyes size is correlated with night flight activity. <i>P. kalamensis</i> sp. n. and <i>P. orobuensis</i> sp. n. share very slender antennae with parallelsided antennomeres 3­10 (Figs 21­25). Their male genitalia are characteristic in a very slender phallus and membranous internal sac (Figs 7­10). The similar shape of the phallus is found in <i>P. tanatorajensis</i> sp. n., which differs in acutely serrate antennae (Fig. 27). The males of <i>P. flavidus</i> and <i>P. toliensis</i> nom. n. are unknown and therefore their relationships with newly described species remain unclear. They differ in serrate female antennae from dark coloured species and from <i>P. lalui</i> sp. n., which is the closest species considering body shape and colouration. The serrate female antennae are usually present in <i>Plateros</i> species with flabellate male antennae. Males are necessary for the clarification of the relationships and for accurate identification of these species.
description: Published as part of <i>Tvardik, David &amp; Bocak, Ladislav, 2001, Review of the genus Plateros Bourgeois (Coleoptera; Lycidae) from Sulawesi, pp. 1-12 in Zootaxa 16</i> on pages 2-4, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4618537
description: {"references": ["Moore, B. P. &amp; Brown, W. V. (1981) Identification of warning odour components, bitter principles and antifeedants in an aposematic beetle - Metriorrhynchus rhipidium (Coleoptera: Lycidae). Insect Biochemistry, 15, 493 - 499.", "Bocakova, M. (1997 a) Revision and phylogenetic analysis of the genus Melaneros Fairmaire, 1877 (Coleoptera, Lycidae) from New Guinea. Entomologica Basilensia, 20, 165 - 200.", "Bocakova, M. (1997 b) Revision of the genus Melaneros from China with a note on Ditoneces (Coleoptera: Lycidae). Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemiae, 61, 175 - 190."]}