Oedichirus lewisius Sharp

Oedichirus lewisius SHARP

(Figs 15)

Oedichirus lewisius SHARP, 1874: 76.

Oedichirus lewisius WANG 1990: 76.

Oedichirus lewisius RATNA et al. 2002.

Oedichirus lewisius LI et al. 2010.

Oedichirus lewisius SHIBATA et al. 2013: 161.

Oedichirus lewisius MAKAROV et al. 2015.

Material studied: ♂ Holotype: 210 / Lewis / [BM type labels]: Type H.T. / Japan G. Lewis 1910-320. / Oedichirus lewisius type D. S. / Holotype Oedichirus lewisius Sharp det. R. G. Booth 2015 / NHMUK10584129. [In the original description Sharp cites "Simabara, March 1870 " [NHML]

Addidional material: 1 ex.: Sharp Coll. 1905-313 / OEdichirus lewisius, Miyanoshita, May 1880 Lewis [NHML]; 1♀: Riv. KIZU, YAWATA, 22.ix.1984, T. ITO / Oedichirus lewisius SHP Det. TATEO ITO / Rougemont collection [CRO]; 1♂ & 1♀: Mayuyama, Shimabara-shi, Nagasaki-ken, 10.1.1977 Shoichi Imasaka leg. / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [KUM]; 1 ex: Tashirobaru, Unzen-shi, Nagasaki-ken, 10.30.1979 Shoichi Imasaka leg. [KUM]; 1♀: Koseda, Yakushima, Kagoshima-ken, VII.13.1975 M. Tao leg. [KUM]; Awa, Motobu-hantô, Okinawa-jima, III.13.1979, S. Naomi leg. [KUM]; 1♀: Nakadôri-jima, Nagasakiken, VIII.15.1977, H. Ôishi leg. [KUM]; 1♀: Sugitani, Shimabara-shi, Nagasaki-ken, V.1.1978, Shoichi Imasaka leg. [KUM]; 1♀: Kakuyama, Ogawa, Saitama, 30.III.1993, T. Nambu leg. [KUM]; 1♂: HONSHU, Mt. Ifuri, Fukui Pref. / 18.v.1960, Coll. H. Sasaji [CRO]; 1♀: Is. Tsushima, Nagasaki, JAPAN, 17. May 2008, Koji Hosokawa leg. / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [CIK]; 1♂: YUDOMARI YAKU Is., 3.V.1984 T. ITO / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [CIK]; 1♀: SHIRAHAMA IRIOMOTE Is. 29.XII.1996, I. MATOBA leg. / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [CIK]; 1♀: JAPAN Kyushu, Mt. Tatera, TSUSHIMA Is., 10-11.IX.2009, N. NAKAHAMA / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [CIK]; 1♀: MIYANOURA YAKU Is,, 30.IV.1984, T. ITO / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [CIK]; 1♀: Awa, Mobotu-hantô, Okinawajima, S. Naomi leg. / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [KUM]; 1♀: VIII.15.1977, Nakadôri-jima, Nagasaki-ken, H. Ôishi leg. / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [KUM]; 1♀: Sugitani, Shimabara-shi, Nagasaki-ken, Shoichi Imasaka leg., V.1.1978 / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [KUM]; 1♀: Shirahama, Iriomote Jima, 21.VI.1990, H. Makihara leg. / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [KUM]; 1♀: IX.15.1996, Imari-shi, Saga-ken, H. Ôishi leg. / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [KUM]; 1♀: Yonamine, Okinawa-jima, 19.IV.1974, H. Irie leg. / Oedichirus lewisius Shp. det. 2016 G. de Rougemont [KUM].

Description: length: 7.5 mm; length of fore-body: 3.2; length of head: 0.8; breadth of head: 0.8; length of antenna: 1.9; length of pronotum: 1.12; breadth of pronotum: 0.95; length of elytron: 1.25; breadth of elytra: 1.35. Head and elytra black, pronotum red, abdominal segments III-VI red, VII-IX black; palpi, antennae and legs testaceous, apices of femora lightly and narrowly infuscate. Dorsal surfaces devoid of microsculpture. Pubescence short, sparse, pale and semi-erect on elytra, darker and erect on abdomen. Habitus: Fig. 15h.

Head moderately transverse; post-ocular carina narrow, extending to posterior margin of eye without forming an angle; puncturation sparse, consisting only of a number of very small frontal, ocular and basal punctures and half a dozen larger punctures on vertex. Pronotum broader than head, moderately elongate; lateral margins not bordered; discal series of 5-6 punctures behind a group of four punctures (or, viewed alternatively, 6-7 behind one pair of punctures), lateral series of three punctures and smaller punctures along lateral margins. Elytra only a little elongate; puncturation moderately sparse, except in scutellary area, the interstices mostly larger than diameter of punctures. Puncturation of abdomen arranged in four discrete transverse rows, the first adjacent to anterior row of keels and grooves on each tergite, the punctures of following rows larger and more closely spaced.

Male: aedoeagus: Figs. 15arl, av.

Female: sternite IX: Fig. 15vp.

Variability: in some specimens, especially from the northern part of its range, the black elytra are in parts more or less extensively flushed with red.

The general appearance and the male sexual characters make Oedichirus lewisius SHARP very similar to the widespread O. longipennis KRAATZ from which it is most obviously distinguished by its smaller and less densely punctured elytra, which are about as long as the pronotum, whereas they are broader, and distinctly longer than the pronotum in O. longipennis. The anterior process of the ventral sclerite of the aedoeagus is larger and more salient in O. lewisius (cf. Figs 15arl, av, 14arl, av).

It is surprising that in his descriptions SHARP compared his O. lewisius and O. idea with the Mediterranean species O. paederinus, to which they bear little resemblance, instead of with the oriental species O. longipennis KRAATZ, the existence of which he must have been aware.

O. lewisius is widespread in Japan, and occurs in North and South Korea and Sakhalin; its range extends from the main islands of Japan southward through the Ryukus to Iriomote Island. The ranges of O. lewisius and O. longipennis overlap in southern Japan and the Ryukyus. The record of O. lewisius from Shanghai (LI et al. 2010) is clearly a misidentification of O. longipennis, as I assume are those from Guangxi (WANG 1990) and Java (RATNA et al. 2002).