Platynotum femorale Bartlett & Lambkin 2022, stat. rev., comb. nov.
Creators: name: Bartlett, Justin S.
name: Lambkin, Christine L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cleridae
Platynotum
Platynotum femorale

description: Platynotum femorale (Westwood) stat. rev., comb. nov.
(Figs 26, 63, 99, 135, 178, 184, 185; Map 2)
Opilo femoralis Westwood, 1849: 55 (as Notoxus congruus var. Opilus femoralis).
Type material. LECTOTYPE (here designated): Western Australia: De Boulay // Nov.Holl. Occid. // Fry Coll. 1905-100 // Opilus femoratus Westw Australia (NHML).
Comment on lectotype designation: Three beetles, one large (12.9 mm) and two small (about 7.5 mm), all labelled ‘De Boulay, Nov. Holl Occid., Fry Coll. 1905-100’ (Figs 184, 185), were found at the Natural History Museum, London (NHML) within the ‘ Opilo ’ drawer, positioned side by side immediately above the unidentified Australian ‘ Opilo ’ material. Westwood (1849: 55) writes in his description “Female twice as large as male; antennae short, and legs duller in colour”—all these differences are present between the larger and smaller of the three specimens found.
Although none of the three specimens bear the typical red-bordered circular NHML Type label, the larger one carries a folded label on which is written ‘ Opilus femoratus Westw. Australia’ (Fig. 184). The ‘Fry Coll. 1905- 100’ labels on the three abovementioned specimens indicate that they were part of the collection of the English entomologist Alexander Fry whose collection was the 100 th accession received by the then British Museum in 1905. The absence of Type labels on these specimens suggests that they were simply not recognised as Types when they were incorporated into the museum’s collection in 1905.
As the specimens in question match Westwood’s original description and conform to size and other differences detailed within the description, and as there is a simple explanation for the absence of Type labels, we believe these specimens to represent Westwood’s original syntype series. The larger specimen is designated the lectotype of Opilo femoralis Westwood as it bears the ‘ Opilus femoratus Westw. Australia’ label. The other two specimens are not designated as paralectotypes as they represent a different species altogether (described above as Notopilo confusus sp. nov.).
Comment on nomenclature: ‘ Opilo femoralis’ was originally published under the genus Opilus Latreille (1806) rather than Opilo Latreille (1802) which has priority over the former, invalid spelling. Following Article 11.9.3.2 of The Code (ICZN 1999), which states that “a species group name is deemed to have been published in combination with the correct original spelling of the generic name, even if it was actually published in combination with an emendation or incorrect spelling of the generic name”, the genus component of the original species group name spelling of Opilus femoralis (see Westwood, 1849: 55) is deemed an incorrect subsequent spelling of the genus-group name Opilo Latreille. The combination Opilo femoralis Westwood, 1849, is therefore recognised as the correct available name spelling.
Other material examined (11): Western Australia: 11km N of Geraldton, WA, 23.xii.72, at u. v. light, N. McFarland (1, ANIC); 11km N of Geraldton, WA, 8.xii.72, at u. v. light, N. McFarland (1 ♁, ANIC); 11km N of Geraldton, WA, 14.i.73, at u. v. light, N. McFarland (1, ANIC); 9km NNE of Geraldton, WA, 16.i.73, at u. v. light, N. McFarland (1, ANIC); Drummond Cove, Geraldton, W. Aust., Ex light trap, 2.xii.72, N. McFarland // Agriculture (Dept) Western Australia 49860 (1, WADA); Drummond Cove, W. Aust., 25.i.1973, ex light., N.McFarland // Agriculture (Dept) Western Australia 49858 (1, WADA); Drummond Cove, West Aust., 30.xii.1972, ex light trap, N.McFarland // Agriculture (Dept) Western Australia 49859 (1, WADA); DC—uv., 7 Jan. 73 // Agriculture (Dept) Western Australia 49863 (1, WADA); Agriculture (Dept) Western Australia 49869 [no data] (1 ♀, WADA); Agriculture (Dept) Western Australia 49868 [no data] (1, WADA); WA: 1.5 km SW of Middalya HS (23°54′S 114°46′E) 22 August 1990 A.J. Oliver // at light (uv) at night (1, WAM).
Diagnosis. Pronotum rounded to sub-tuberculate laterally, disc not heavily punctate; elytra dark with orange fasciate and apical maculations (humeral maculae absent), fasciae tapering towards, though meeting at, suture, punctation lacking nodules, 8 th stria beginning before fascia, most striae reaching apical maculae; femora yellow basally, brown apically, tarsi with three ventral tarsal pads.
Description. Habitus: Fig. 178. Total length: 9.3–13.1 mm (lectotype 12.9 mm). Head: Cranium black, venter, clypeus and supra-antennal elevation with a deep reddish hue, anteclypeus, labrum and palpi orangebrown, antennae partly orange-brown and dark brown; eyes separated by 0.9–1.16 eye widths (lectotype 0.93); vertex, frons and upper part of clypeus densely punctate-rugulose, lower part of clypeus smoother; genae wrinkled, submentum with smooth and wrinkled areas; ratio of exterior to interior edges of terminal palpomeres about 1.8:1 (maxillae) and 2.4:1 (labium); antennae almost reaching base of pronotum; eyes and most of cranium vested with erect pale setae, frons with shorter medially-directed setae. Prothorax: Blackish to reddish-brown; pronotum 1.1–1.2 times longer than wide (lectotype 1.25), sides weakly rounded, middle slightly wider or about as wide as anterior part; subapical depression v-shaped, disc weakly flattened (most obvious viewed laterally), with deep central sulcus (sulcus smooth, more open than linear) and a poorly-defined shallow sulcus on each side near middle, large punctation laterally, dorsum mostly smooth; short fine multi-directional setae and long erect setae. Pterothorax: Ventrites blackish to reddish-brown, with short posteriorly-directed, and occasional long, setae; elytra blackish-brown with orange markings (each elytron with a large apical macula and a transverse fascia which narrows near the suture—its anterior margin just anterior to elytral mid-length); length to width ratio 2.7–2.95:1 (lectotype 2.69); mostly 10-striate, 8 th stria beginning between first and eighth punctation of 7 th stria, most striae ending at apical macula (except 1 st and 10 th striae) (Fig. 26), punctation lacking nodules, punctations posterior of fascia slightly smaller than those anterior to fascia, epipleurae extending into apical maculae, interstriae with very fine short semi-erect setae and less frequent longer thicker erect setae. Legs: Femora variably yellow basally and dark brown apically (commonly less than half brown, rarely greater than half), tibiae and tarsi dark brown, ventral tarsal pads yellowish; profemora only slightly thicker than other femora. Abdomen: Ventrites orange. Male genitalia: Tegmen (Fig. 63) needle-like, notably broad at bend of tegminal arms, evenly tapering to parameroid lobes, the latter evenly narrowing to a dull point, dorsal sinus slender, about one-quarter tegmen length, ventral sinus two-thirds as long, apodeme about one-quarter tegmen length; median lobe (Fig. 99) with apical thread-like process; pygidium as in Fig. 135.
Biology. Platynotum femorale stat. rev., comb. nov. has been collected in December and January using light traps.
Distribution (Map 2). Western Australia: Mid West (Drummond Cove near Geraldton plus Middalya Homestead on the Minilya River).
Remarks. As all ten non-type specimens of P. femorale were collected near Geraldton it is possible that the lectotype was not collected from the far south of Western Australia as indicated by the type locality of King George’s Sound, i.e., Albany. Additionally, non-syntype specimens of Notopilo confusus sp. nov. collected by De Boulay in Champion Bay, i.e. Geraldton (ex Oberthur collection, MNHN), suggest the possibility that the published ‘ femoralis ’ type locality, King George’s Sound, was erroneous.
description: Published as part of Bartlett, Justin S. & Lambkin, Christine L., 2022, Australian Opilonini (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Clerinae) part I: A revised taxonomy for Australian Opilo Latreille including descriptions of new genera and species, pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 5220 (1) on pages 74-77, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5220.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7441294