Webbia quadricinctus Schedl 1972, status restored

Webbia quadricinctus Schedl, 1972, status restored

Webbia quadricinctus Schedl 1972: 62.

Hulcr and Cognato (2013) considered the Papua New Guinean endemic W. quadricinctus a synonym of Webbia pabo Sampson, 1922 due to perceived variability in the shape of the declivital processes. Their conclusion was based only on examination of the holotype of W. pabo from India and nontype specimens from Papua New Guinea. We examined specimens of W. pabo across its known distribution outside of Papua New Guinea, including the holotype from India (in Natural History Museum) and additional specimens from ‘Borneo’, China (Xizang, Yunnan), Indonesia (Maluku), East Malaysia, and Thailand, and specimens of W. quadricinctus from Papua New Guinea, including a paratype (in Naturhistorisches Museum) and additional nontype specimens. We found the morphology of the elytral processes consistently differed between the putative species, and only minor intraspecific variation was observed. Mitochondrial COI and nuclear CAD DNA sequences for two individuals, one from China (W. pabo) and one from Papua New Guinea (W. quadricinctus), revealed 12% COI and 7% CAD divergence, thus supporting the recognition of two species (Cognato et al. in press). Webbia quadricinctus is here removed from synonymy with W. pabo. It is distinguished by elytral processes that are long, narrow, and clearly tapering from base to apex, and a unicolorous body. In W. pabo, the elytral processes are short and as broad at the apex as they are at the base, and the body is bicolored with the pronotum and declivity dark brown and the elytral disc light brown.