Enithares paramegalops Lansbury

(Figs. 43, 44, 50, 66)

Enithares paramegalops Lansbury 1968: 406.

Material examined. PAPUA NEW GUINEA, Gulf Prov.: 13 males, 23 females, roadside ponds in lowland forest, 2 km. S. of Kopi oil camp, 20 m., 7°19′21′′S, 144°10′52′′E, water temp. 24° C., 27 February 1995, 15:00–1800 hrs., CL 7000, D. A. Polhemus (BPBM). INDONESIA, Sulawesi Tengah Prov.: 1 male, 1 female (BPBM), Kab. Donggala, Kec. Biromaru, small stream in sandy bed SE of Oloboju, 19 km. SE of Palu, 220 m., vic. 0°53′11′′S, 119°55′39′′E, 10 October 1985, CL 2162, J. T. and D. A. Polhemus (USNM, BPBM). Maluku Prov.: 2 males, 2 females, Ambon, Kab. Maluku Tengah, Kec. Baguala, Wairea River, nr. Wairea, 0– 100 m., 4 October 1985, CL 2153, J. T. and D. A. Polhemus (USNM, BPBM). Additional material examined (identification provisional): INDONESIA, Maluku Utara Prov., Obi Is.: 2 females, Jikodolong, 3–4 August 1981, A. C. Messer (USNM); 2 females, 12 km. SW of Jikodolong, on logging road, 5 August 1981, A. C. Messer (USNM).

Discussion. The male holotype of E. paramegalops from Itouda, in the Paniai Lakes region of western New Guinea, is housed in the Bishop Museum and was examined in the course of this study. As with the holotype of E. megalops, the genital capsule and certain leg segments had been stored dry in a vial below the specimen. The capsule was again carefully removed and examined under glycerin immersion. The shapes of the proctiger, the PL, and the LABP are still evident, whereas the aedeagus has suffered significant distortion upon drying. The genitalic structures of the male at hand from Celebes are a close match for those of the holotype. Nieser & Chen (1996) noted that “It is possible that E. paramegalops will turn out to be a synonym of E. megalops but more specimens, especially some longer series collected at the same locality are needed to solve this problem.′′ Based on the cur- rent set of specimens in hand, the male paramere shape, which is short and rotund in E. megalops versus slightly longer and more distally tapering in E. paramegalops (compare Figs. 49, 50), is sufficient to separate these two species. The shape of the apex of the PL is by contrast somewhat variable, although generally more angular in E. paramegalops.

Ecological notes. Enithares paramegalops is a widespread species that was originally described from specimens taken in the Wissel Lakes area near Enarotali, in Indonesian New Guinea. The species was later recorded from the Luwuk Peninsula of Celebes, and from the island of Bacan in the northern Moluccas by Nieser & Chen (1996). Another record from central Celebes can now be added, as well as a new record for the island of Ambon, in the central Moluccas, and a record from southern coastal Papua New Guinea, which extends the species’ range considerably to the east. The two Celebes specimens were intermixed in a much larger series of E. producta, illustrating how both E. megalops and E. paramegalops seem to be taken in much smaller numbers than other syntopic Enithares species. The series from Papua New Guinea (Fig. 66), by contrast, is by far the longest ever recorded for this species