Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomy & Inventories
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Corresponding author: Haoyu Liu (liuhy@hbu.edu.cn), Yuxia Yang (yxyang@hbu.edu.cn)
Academic editor: Vinicius S. Ferreira
Received: 11 Jul 2024 | Accepted: 09 Sep 2024 | Published: 16 Sep 2024
© 2024 Hanqing Lin, Haoyu Liu, Xingke Yang, Yuxia Yang
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Lin H, Liu H, Yang X, Yang Y (2024) A new and widely distributed species of Ichthyurus Westwood, 1848 (Cantharidae, Chauliognathinae, Ichthyurini) from China. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e131829. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e131829
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The genus Ichthyurus Westwood, 1848 is a large cantharid group consisting of approximately 200 species worldwide, with only 10 species hitherto found in China. Despite its expansive area, the Chinese fauna has historically received little attention from specialists, leading to a lack of knowledge even about some common Ichthyurus species in this region.
A new species of Ichthyurus Westwood, 1848 is described under the name of I. longulus sp. nov., which is widely distributed in mainland China, including Shannxi, Gansu, Hubei, Chongqing, Guizhou and Guangxi. Although there are some variations in the pronotum colouration within the species, this new species could be easily distinguished from all others of Ichthyurus by the large-sized body, uniformly black elytra, mesotibiae each with an apical spur in male, terminal abdominal tergite of male with long and cylindrical lateral projections that are about 3/5 the length of the tergite, terminal abdominal ventrite of male saddle-shaped and deeply cleft in middle of apical 2/3 part and aedeagus with a long setifore extension that is as long as the parameres. The habitus, terminal abdominal ventrite and tergites and genitalia of both sexes are illustrated. In addition, a distribution map of this species and a list of the Ichthyurus species from mainland China are provided.
Ichthyurus, Alpha taxonomy, new species, soldier beetles, East Asia
The genus Ichthyurus Westwood, 1848 represents the largest taxonomic group within the tribe Ichthyurini of soldier beetles, encompassing approximately 200 species distributed worldwide (
In our study, we assembled a large amount of Ichthyurus material from mainland China. After conducting identification and comparison, also referring to relevant literature, as well as examining hundreds of types, we have discovered dozens of new species, which are being or will be described in our forthcoming publications. It is worth noting that the Chinese fauna of Ichthyurus has historically received little attention from specialists, so that even some common species remain unknown in this region. In the present study, we are going to describe one new species that is widely distributed in central and western China.
The studied materials are preserved in the following collections:
The specimens were initially softened in water, followed by the dissection of the genitalia and genital segments of both sexes. Subsequently, the male genitalia were immersed in a 10% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution and then placed in a metal bath warmed to 90℃ for one minute. After that, the clean male genitalia were examined and photographed in glycerol and then affixed to a paper card for permanent preservation. The female genitalia were stained with haematoxylin, examined in 75% alcohol and preserved in glycerol. For species with multiple distributions, each distribution is compared through dissections of both female and male specimens. In cases where any damage occurred during dissection, additional specimens would be treated as necessary.
The habitus images were captured using a Canon EOS 80D digital camera and others with a Leica M205A stereomicroscope. Multiple layers were stacked using Helicon Focus 7 and post-processing of the images and the measurements was conducted in Photoshop 2020. The distribution map was prepared by ArcMap 10.8 and edited in Adobe Photoshop 2020.
For the specimens, quotation marks are used if their original labels are written in English. All labels written in Chinese are transliterated into English. Morphological terminology in this study follows Brancucci (
Body length (both sexes): 13.5‒14.4 mm (13.5 mm in holotype); width at humeri (both sexes): 1.9‒2.0 mm (1.9 mm in holotype).
Male (Fig.
Eyes large, interocular distance about half of maximum eye diameter. Antennae reaching posterior margin of abdominal tergite III, antennomeres II about 1/3 of the length of I, III‒XI subequal in length and about 4.0 times longer than II.
Pronotum 1.1 times wider than long, anterior margin strongly arcuate and lateral margins slightly arcuate, posterior margin feebly bisinuate, anterior angles rounded and posterior angles nearly rectangular.
Leg slender, mesotibiae each present with a spur at inner apical angle (Fig.
Elytra 1.3 times longer than humeri width of conjoint elytra, twice longer than pronotum, with lateral margins sinuate, sutures moderately dehiscent at posterior 2/3 part, distance between sutures twice wider than width of an elytron, apices rounded.
Terminal abdominal tergite (or tergite VIII) (Fig.
Ichthyurus longulus sp. nov. (A, B, D, F, G male; C, E female): A genital segments in natural state, ventral view; B‒C terminal abdominal tergite, ventral view; D‒E terminal abdominal ventrite, ventral view; F proctiger and paraproct, ventral view; G abdominal sternite IX, ventral view. Abbreviations: p: proctiger; pp: paraproct; tf: tergal flange. Scale bars: A‒F: 0.5 mm, G: 0.2 mm.
Abdominal sternite IX completely concealed underneath terminal ventrite (Fig.
Proctiger (Fig.
Aedeagus (Fig.
Ichthyurus longulus sp. nov.: A‒D aedeagus (A dorsal view; B left-lateral view; C right-lateral view; D ventral view); E‒F female reproductive system (E ventro-lateral view; F dorsal-lateral view). Abbreviations: lp: left paramere; rp: right paramere; se: setifore extension; ml: median lobe; p: proctiger; pp: paraproct; s: style; c: coxites; va: vagina; ov: median oviduct; bc: bursa copulatrix; sp: spermatheca; ag: accessory gland. Scale bars: A‒D 0.5 mm; E, F 1.0 mm.
Female (Fig.
Reproductive system (Fig.
Variation within type series. Sometimes pronotum with a large black marking at anterior half part of the disc (Fig.
It can be easily distinguished from all Chinese species by the uniformly black elytra (Fig.
The specific name is derived from the Latin longus (long), referring to its long setifore extension.
W. China
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Remark. This species was missing in the Palaearctic Catalogue (
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Citation: Ichthyurus longulus Y. Yang, Lin & Liu, sp. nov. Type locality: Chongqing, China; type depository: MHBU.
Ichthyurus longulus sp. nov. is a commonly found species with a wide distribution in central and western China (Fig.
Furthermore, its separate status could be verified by combination of some other characters: mesotibiae each present with an apical spur in male (Fig.
In our study of Ichthyurus, we have adopted the concept of a species group (e.g.
We extend our gratitude to the late Dr. Michel Brancucci (Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Switzerland) for his invaluable guidance to Yuxia Yang in the taxonomy of soldier beetles. We would also like to express our appreciation to Dr. Roberto Poggi (MGI) and Mr. Antoine Mantilleri (MNHN) for providing Yuxia Yang with the opportunity to access the cantharid types under their charge. Additionally, we are thankful to Prof. Zi-Wei Yin (SNUC) and Prof. Tian-Ci Yi (GUGC) for their generous assistance in providing us with some studied material, as well as to the two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions in improving our manuscript. This study is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 32270491, 31772507), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (No. C2022201005) and the Interdisciplinary Research Program of Natural Science of Hebei University (No. DXK202302).