High diversity and endemism in the genus Cautires Waterhouse, 1879 (Coleoptera: Lycidae) from the Malay mountain forests, with the descriptions of fourteen new species

Alice Jiruskova,Michal Motyka,Ladislav Bocak

doi:10.5852/ejt.2016.219

Abstract

We identified a high diversity in the net-winged beetles of the genus Cautires in Peninsular Malaysia. Fourteen new species are described: Cautires alexae sp. nov., C. andujari sp. nov., C. arribasae sp. nov., C. berembanensis sp. nov., C. campestris sp. nov., C. communis sp. nov., C. jasarensis sp. nov., C. katarinae sp. nov., C. kirstenae sp. nov., C. kotatinggensis sp. nov., C. linardi sp. nov., C. maseki sp. nov., C. pahangensis sp. nov. and C. renatae sp. nov. Seven previously described species are discussed, illustrated and differential diagnoses provided; all species are keyed. The Cautires species differ in a limited number of diagnostic characters, namely in the shape of male antennae, the relative size of eyes and in the shape of the male genitalia. The females are difficult to assign to a conspecific male due to high intraspecific variability. The characteristically low dispersal propensity of net-winged beetles lead to the evolution of the unique fauna in the Malay mountains and despite an extensive study of the type material we recorded only a single species of Cautires occurring simultaneously in Sumatra. We suggest that the Malay mountain fauna is highly endemic and evolved in situ .

Highlights

The high diversity of beetles in tropical regions remains poorly studied and the number of undescribed taxa in the randomly collected samples is often substantially higher than the number of known species
The recent DNA-based study dealing with the Cautires obsoletus species group, i.e., the former genus Bulenides Waterhouse, 1879 (Jiruskova & Bocak 2015), revealed quite a high number of unknown species, as was the case in recently collected material from the Malay Peninsula
Almost 100 species of Cautires have been reported from Sundaland (Kleine 1933; Bocak 2002), whereas the recent molecular study dealing with the delimitation of genera in Metriorrhynchini has shown that the fauna of Sumatra, Borneo and the Malay Peninsula seldom share any common species and that even the mountain ranges within a single island have a highly endemic fauna (Sklenarova et al 2014)

Summary

Introduction

The high diversity of beetles in tropical regions remains poorly studied and the number of undescribed taxa in the randomly collected samples is often substantially higher than the number of known species Such lack of knowledge is to be expected in relation to under-investigated and long-inaccessible regions such as New Guinea (Riedel et al 2013; Bocek & Bocak 2016), but, at least in the case of net-winged. The recent DNA-based study dealing with the Cautires obsoletus species group, i.e., the former genus Bulenides Waterhouse, 1879 (Jiruskova & Bocak 2015), revealed quite a high number of unknown species, as was the case in recently collected material from the Malay Peninsula. They can be collected from under the bark of dead tree trunks (Bocak & Matsuda 2003)

Methods

Results

Conclusion