Rhagophthalmus beigansis Ho, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ho, Jen-Zon
name: Chen, Young-Fa
name: Cheng, Su-Han
name: Tsai, Xi-Lian
name: Yang, Ping-Shin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Rhagophthalmidae
Rhagophthalmus
Rhagophthalmus beigansis

description: Rhagophthalmus beigansis Ho sp. nov.
(Figs 4 A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B, 9B, 10A, 10B, 11, 12, 13)
Type. Holotype. Male. TAIWAN: Beigan, Lienchiang County, Taiwan, 29-IV-2011, Jing-Han Hu. (ARI). Paratypes: TAIWAN: Beigan, Lienchiang County, Taiwan, 4 males, 4 females, 8-V-2011, Hua-Te Fang. (ESRI, NMNS).
Etymology. This species is named after Beigan islet where it was collected.
Diagnosis. This new species is similar to R. ohbai but differs in the male genitalia, the female luminous organ and the appendage of the female head. In the male genitalia of R. beigansis, the posterior basal piece is sharp and a space exists between the paramere and medial lobe; whereas in R. ohbai, the posterior basal piece is cylindrical and the paramere is almost attached to the medial lobe. The female in R. beigansis has three spot-like luminous organs, two on both sides of the body between the mesothorax and the 9th abdominal segment and one in the middle (dorsally) between them mesothorax and the 8th abdominal segments. This is significantly different from R. ohbai where the 9th abdominal segment has no luminous organs (Ohba et al., 1996). In labial palps of R. beigansis also protrudes more at the position of the base attachment than in R. ohbai. Finally the number segments of the antennal and maxillary palps in R. beigansis are 5 and 4, but in R. ohbai, are 7 or 8 and 5.
Male. Body mostly dark brown or black, moderately shiny, pubescence light yellow, covering almost all the dorsal surface. Head capsule black, not glossy; compound eyes blackish; antennae brown to orange-yellowish; mandibles dark brown; maxillae dark brown; labrum brownish; pronotum dark brown, darker in center of disk and paler brown towards the sides; elytra dark brown, paler brown towards the base; ventral thorax orange-yellowish or yellowish brown; coxae, trochanters, and femora of all legs orange-yellowish or yellowish brown; tibiae and tarsi brownish or dark brown; abdomen dark brown in anterior segments, then darker brown to blackish in the terminal segments, with orange-yellowish or yellowish brown posterior margins.
Body spindle or oval-shaped when viewed from above, tiny punctures scattered on the dorsal side of elytra.
Head longer than wide, width of posterior margin wider than the apical margin of pronotum, but slightly narrower than the basal width of pronotum, odontoid protrusions surrounding whole surface of head besides appendages, more clearly and more closely clustered around compound eyes.
Antennae 12 segmented, 1.68 mm (range: 1.37–1.68) long; scape cylindrical; barrel-shaped pedicel longer than scape in length; 1st flagellar segment longer than remaining segments, slightly clavate, broader towards the apex,; 2nd to 4th flagellar segments also slightly expanded towards their apices with flagellar segment 2 about half as long as 1, 3 and 4 subequal slightly shorter than 2, 5–8 more broadly expanded at their apices than preceding segments, approximately subequal in length and shorter than more basal segments; flagellar segment 9 weakly expanded to one side, (asymmetrically clavate) with a lens-like sensillum located at the antero-ventral side of the segment; 10th flagellar segment very narrow in apical half.
Pronotum approximately semi-circular from above, basal margin slightly less than the width across elytral humeri; apical margin protruding forwardly, broadly rounded and anterolateral corners are broadly rounded and obtuse; basal margin straight or slightly arcuate; posterolateral corners acute and pointed; separated odontoid protrudings spread all over the surface of pronotum, more densely aggregated over central disc, gradually reducing in number from center to edges; PW/HW 1.12, PW/PL 1.46, PW/PA 1.39, PW/EW 0.73, PW/EHW 0.95.
Elytra elongate slightly oval in outline, inner margins contiguous along their length and outer margins very slightly convex sided; contracting in apical 1/3 where the elytra are narrowest, discrete punctures and pubescence over surface of elytra; EL/PL 4.96, EL/EW 2.48, EW/EHW 1.30.
Legs slender, femur slightly enlarged at the middle; tibia straight, slightly thinner than femur; tarsus 5-segmented, pretarsus with 2 claws and no empodium or arolium obvious between the claws; HFL/HTL 0.95.
Male genitalia 0.95 mm long, trilobate, glabrous, with no punctures, odontoid protrusions and pubescence; basal plate large and well sclerotized, covering basal 1/2 of parameres when viewed from below, anterior margin blunt and round, slightly arcuate, lateral margins subparallel, with a broad straight vertical groove formed at the center of the apex; aedeagus subequal to parameres in length, tapering to a rounded apex; parameres with strongly developed apices inturning but not reaching to the aedeagus; clear dark banks at basal 1/3. Basal plate of male genitalia large and roughly straight in each margin, is a critical characteristic on identify.
Female. Larviform, 17.26± 2.97 mm (range: 10.48–23.41, n=27) in length, 2.05± 0.30 mm (range: 1.44–2.97, n=27) wide across basal margin of pronotum. Body color yellowish or brownish. Head small, with small compound eyes. Antennae 5 segmented, maxillary palp 4 segmented, labial palp 3 segmented. Labial palps are protruding beyond the anterior head margin. There are two sets of luminous organs in female. The first set is a large luminous organ on 7th ventral abdominal segment and the second has three spot-like luminous organs on most segments. Each segment has three small spot-like luminous organs, two on both body sides from mesothorax to 9th abdominal segments and one on dorsal middle from mesothorax to 8th abdominal segments.
Measurement in mm. BL: 8.86 (holotype)(range: 8.34–11.72); HW: 2.11 (range: 2.06–2.13); PL: 1.62 (range: 1.57–1.64); PA: 1.70 (range: 1.69–1.70); PB: 2.37 (2.37–2.37); PW: 2.37 (range: 1.2–2.69); EL: 8.04 (range: 8.00–8.11); EW: 3.24 (range: 3.20–3.25); EHW: 2.49 (range: 2.41–2.49); HFL: 1.81 (range: 1.79–1.86); HTL: 1.91 (range: 1.88–1.93).
Distribution. TAIWAN: Beigan, Matzu Archipelago, Lienchiang County.
Remarks. Individuals of R. beigansis are nocturnal throughout their life cycle. The vegetation within the habitat is either thick grass or forest. Larvae prey on millipedes observed in the laboratory. Adults appeared in April to May, with the female displaying the luminous behavior between 7:00 to 8: 30 p. m. (Fig. 10). After mating, the female laid 101.4±26.26 eggs (range: 68–151, n=10) that were 0.8–1.1mm in size, oval-shaped and yellow-white in color. In addition, eggs were attended (Fig. 11).
description: Published as part of Ho, Jen-Zon, Chen, Young-Fa, Cheng, Su-Han, Tsai, Xi-Lian & Yang, Ping-Shin, 2012, Two new species of Rhagophthalmus Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Rhagophthalmidae) from Matzu Archipelago, Taiwan with biological commentary, pp. 1-13 in Zootaxa 3274 on pages 4-9, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.214798