Description of a new subgenus of Phymatodes Mulsant, 1839 from China (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae, Callidiini)

Humanity space International almanac VOL. 14, No 8, 2025: 598-603 Гуманитарное пространство Международный альманах ТОМ 14, № 8, 2025: 598-603 598 https://zoobank.org/References/13F0939A-714D-45A6-87B1-A280504A8175 DOI: 10.24412/2226-0773-2025-14-8-598-603 EDN: GXNCTC Description of a new subgenus of Phymatodes Mulsant, 1839 from China (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae, Callidiini) Wen-Xuan Bi1, Chang-Chin Chen2 1Room 401, No. 2, Lane 155, Lianhua South Road, Shanghai 201100 China e-mail: [email protected] ORCID 0000-0003-1806-7679 2NPS office, Tianjin New Wei San Industrial Company, Ltd., Tianjin, China e-mail: [email protected] ORCID 0000-0001-5771-8337 Key words: Helotidae, longhorn beetles, taxonomy, Neohelota, new species, new subgenus, Oriental region. Abstract. A new subgenus Helotaodes subgen. nov. is established within Phymatodes Mulsant, 1839 to accommodate Phymatodes (Helotaodes) xiaobini sp. nov., a unique mimetic species from Yunnan, China that resembles beetles of the family Helotidae. Illustrations of habitus of both sexes, and major diagnostic features are provided. Introduction The first author recently received a series of specimens of a peculiar cerambycine species from Yunnan, China, exhibiting Helotine mimicry. Superficially resembling Callidium Fabricius or Phymatodes Mulsant (tribe Callidiini Kirby), this unknown species was examined in detail and determined to belong to the latter genus. However, it can be clearly distinguished from all currently known subgenera of Phymatodes by a combination of diagnostic characters: the dorsum with metallic luster, the pronotal disk coarsely punctate and medially carinate, and the tufted elytra lacking translucent bands. Therefore, we propose a new subgenus to accommodate this new species, which is described herein. This species represents the 16th known species of Phymatodes in China (Tavakilian & Chevillotte, 2025). Tribal classification within the subfamily Cerambycinae follows Gressitt (1951), Gressitt & Rondon (1970), and Ohbayashi & Niisato (2007). Wen-Xuan Bi, Chang-Chin Chen 599 Material and methods The holotype of the new species is deposited in the Shanghai Entomological Museum, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China (SHEM). The paratypes belongs to the Collection of WenXuan Bi, Shanghai, China (CBWX). All images were taken using a Canon EOS 80D camera equipped with a Canon MP-E 65 mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens. A Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite Flash was used as light source. CombineZM was used for image stacking. The images were edited and grouped in Adobe Photoshop 2023. Results Phymatodes (Helotaodes) subgen. nov. Type species. Phymatodes (Helotaodes) xiaobini sp. nov. Description. Body small sized (7.1-8.8 mm long), flattened; dorsum with metallic luster. Head short. Frons transverse, moderately concave. Genae very short. Eye finely facetted, strongly emarginate; moderately large and prominent. Antennae shorter than body length; scape, antennomeres III and IV subequal in length; antennomeres VI-X serrate externally. Pronotum transverse, obtusely angulate laterally near midlength, basal margin narrower than apical margin; disk gently convex, coarsely punctate, provided with three small calli arranged as inverted triangle, and with a narrow glabrous carina across the midline. Prosternum with procoxal cavities broadly open posteriorly; prosternal process short and narrow. Mesoscutum with stridulatory plate well developed. Mesocoxal cavities open to mesepimera. Elytra entire; disk coarsely punctate, bearing a small tuft of moderately long hairs behind the scutellum; each elytron provided with two yellowish pubescent spots, without translucent bands. Legs with femora strongly clavate; procoxae prominent, subrounded, angulate externally; hind tarsi with first tarsomere subequal to the following two tarsomeres combined. Distribution. China. Remarks. This new subgenus can be readily separated from the Wen-Xuan Bi, Chang-Chin Chen 600 genus Callidium Fabricius (sensu Holzschuh, 1993) by the stridulatory plate of mesoscutum well developed, and the elytra tufted with long hairs behind the scutellum. It is mostly similar to the subgenus Phymatodes (Poecilium) Fairmaire by the presence of the tuft hairs near elytral base. But it can be distinguished from the latter by the pronotal disk coarsely punctate and medially carinate; the elytral disk coarsely punctate throughout, without translucent bands, instead with light-colored spots; and the body dorsum with metallic luster. Etymology. From the combination of the stem of the family name Helotidae (Coleoptera), and Greek -ṓdēs meaning like, which refers to the superficial similarities between the type species of this new subgenus and Helotidae species, especially those of Neohelota Ohta (Figs 1-3). The gender is masculine. Phymatodes (Helotaodes) xiaobini sp. nov. Figs 1, 2, 4 Type locality. China, Yunnan, Weixi, A'hualuohe, 2400-2600 m. Description. Male (Fig. 1). Length from tip of mandibles to elytral apices 7.1-8.0 mm, width at elytral humeri 2.3-2.6 mm. Body dorsum shiny, mostly brown to dark brown with dark green to purple metallic luster (more distinct under daylight conditions). Scutellum covered with yellowish pubescence. Elytra at most slightly lighter on basal two-fifth; each elytron conspicuously with two small translucent spots covered with dense yellowish pubescence, the spots situated near basal two-fifths and at apical fourth respectively, of which the posterior smaller one is comparatively closer to the lateral margin; with dense appressed dark brown pubescence surrounding the former two spots, or arranged along apical margin. Antennae with scape, apical half of antennomeres VII-VIII, and most of antennomeres IX-XI dark brown; remaining portion light brown. Legs mostly dark brown, except coxae, trochanters, and middle third of the clavate portion of femora brown to light brown. Ventral surface mostly light brown, except for the abdominal ventrites slightly darker. Head slightly narrower than pronotal anterior margin, Wen-Xuan Bi, Chang-Chin Chen 601 moderately concave between antennal tubercles; frons transverse, provided with a longitudinal median groove, hardly reaching vertex; frons and vertex sparsely, deeply and finely punctate, bearing sparse long setae. Eyes with upper and lower eye lobes connected by one row of ommatidia; lower eye lobe ca. 1.3 times as long as wide, 2.5 times as long as gena. Antennae 0.6-0.7 times as long as body; scape moderately clavate, bearing sparse long setae; antennomeres VI-XI flattened, VI-X serrate externally. Antennomere V longest, 1.2 times as long as scape, antennomere III, or IV; antennomeres VVIII gradually shorter; VIII–XI subequal in length. Pronotum ca. 1.3 times as long as width across lateral tubercles, subequal to basal width; base strongly constricted, distinctly margined and undulate; disk with punctures much denser and coarser than head, and provided with sparse long setae mainly at lateral sides. Scutellum subtriangular. Elytra ca. 2.1 times as long as humeral width, 3.4 times as long as pronotum; very gently convergent from humeri toward separately rounded apices; humeri rounded, slightly protruding laterally; disk with punctures similar to pronotum, gradually becoming shallower posteriorly. Ventral surface sparsely and finely punctate. Legs moderately long; metafemora hardly exceeding elytral apices; apical and external surfaces of femora and entire surfaces of tibiae covered with sparse long setae. Male terminalia. Tergite VIII (Fig. 4a) roughly trapezoidal with anterior margin bearing moderately dense long setae. Tegmen (Fig. 4b) in lateral view distinctly curved near apical two-fifths, broadly rhombic in shape and widest near basal two-fifths in ventral view; lateral lobes moderately long and thick, less than one-fifth of total length of tegmen, provided with short fine setae mainly on ventral surfaces, and bearing two or three very long setae on each apex. Median lobe (Fig. 4c) stout, distinctly longer than tegmen, distinctly curved in lateral view; apex subacute. Female (Fig. 2). Length from tip of mandibles to elytral apices 7.3-8.8 mm, width at elytral humeri 2.5-2.9 mm. Almost identical to male in general appearance, except for the elytra longer in relation to the pronotal length, subparallel sided on basal half, the appendages shorter, the femora relatively slender, and the abdominal ventrite V much darker. Wen-Xuan Bi, Chang-Chin Chen 602 Figs 1-3. Habitus of species: 1-2. Phymatodes (Helotaodes) xiaobini sp. nov. from Yunnan, China (1, Holotype, male; 2, paratype, female); 3. Neohelota sp. (Helotidae) from Fujian, China. Fig. 4. Male terminalia of Phymatodes (Helotaodes) xiaobini sp. nov.: a. tergite VIII with sternites VIII and IX in ventral view; b. tegmen in ventral view and lateral view; c. median lobe in ventral view and lateral view. Wen-Xuan Bi, Chang-Chin Chen 603 Type material. Holotype, male “CHINA. Yunnan, Weixi / A'hualuohe / 2,400-2,600 m, 2025.VI / leg. Bai-Jun Li” (SHEM); 9 Paratypes; 4 males, 5 females, same data as holotype (CBWX). Distribution. China: Yunnan. Etymology. The new species is dedicated to our friend Mr. XiaoBin Song, who kindly provided the type material. Acknowledgements. We wish to express our thanks to Xiao-Bin Song (Shanghai, China) for providing the type material of this study, and to Mikhail Danilevsky (A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia) for his timely communication. REFERENCES Gressitt J.L. 1951. Longicorn beetles of China. In: Lepesme, P. (Ed.). Longicornia, études et notes sur les longicornes, Volume 2. Paris: Paul Lechevalier 667 pp., 22 pls. Gressitt J.L. & Rondon J.A. 1970. Cerambycids of Laos (Disteniidae, Prioninae, Philiinae, Aseminae, Lepturinae, Cerambycinae). Pacific Insects Monographies 24: 1-314. Holzschuh C. 1993. Neue Bockkäfer aus Europa und Asien IV, 60 neue Bockkäfer aus Asien, vorwiegend aus China und Thailand (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). - Schriftenreihe der Forstlichen Bundesversuchanstalt (FBVA-Berichte). 75: 1-63. Mulsant E. 1839. Histoire naturelle des coléoptères de France. Longicornes. Maison Libraire, Paris; Imprimerie de Dumoulin, Ronet et Sibuet, Lyon 304 pp., 3 pls. Ohbayashi,N. & Niisato T. 2007. Longicorn Beetles of Japan. Tokai University Press, Kanagawa pp. v-xii + 1-818. Tavakilian G.L, & Chevillotte H. 2025. Titan: base de données internationales sur les Cerambycidae ou Longicornes. Version 4.0. http://titan.gbif.fr/index.html [accessed 1 November 2025] Received: 24.11.2025 Accepted: 12.12.2025