Abstract
The genus Platycotylus Olliff, 1883 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) is recorded from Japan (Nakanoshima Island, Tokara Islands) for the first time, through the discovery of a new and remarkable species, Platycotylusmerklisp. nov., which is described herein. The male of this new species can be distinguished from all known males of other congeneric species by its long and asymmetrical epistomal horn. Although this new species is most similar to Platycotylusparvicollis (Pic, 1923), for which a male has not been examined, it can be distinguished from this species by its simple sparse pronotal punctation, smaller eyes, and acutely produced temples.
Highlights
Except for several cosmopolitan pest species of stored products, most species of Palorini are absent from the New World (Matthews and Bouchard 2008)
Some genera are endemic to principal areas, i.e., two, three, and one genera are endemic to Madagascar, northern Australia, and New Zealand, respectively, suggesting that the ancestor of this tribe occurred in Gondwana before it broke up (Matthews and Bouchard 2008; Alekseev and Nabozhenko 2017)
We describe a new and morphologically remarkable species, Platycotylus merkli sp. nov., from Nakanoshima Island, Tokara Islands, Japan, which represents the first record of this genus in Japan
Summary
We describe a new and morphologically remarkable species, Platycotylus merkli sp. According to Merkl (1992), the epistome structures of males are important diagnostic characteristics for Platycotylus species.
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