Subprotelater Fleutiaux, 1916

Genus Subprotelater Fleutiaux, 1916 View in CoL

Subprotelater Fleutiaux, 1916 View in CoL : (original description; type species: Subprotelater bakeri ).

Diagnosis. This genus is distinguished from the other elaterid genera by the deep antennal grooves between pronotum and hypomeron and the deeply grooved pronotosternal sutures receiving pro-tarsi.

Included species. Seven species: S. bakeri Fleutiaux, 1916 ( Philippines: Luzon), S. guttatus Fleutiaux, 1919 ( Singapore), S. hisamatsui Nakane, 1987 ( Japan: Ogasawara Islands), S. japonicus Nakane and Hisamatsu, 1991 ( Japan: Honshu), S. lambirensis Arimoto , sp. nov. ( Malaysia: Borneo), S. miriensis Arimoto , sp. nov. ( Malaysia: Borneo), S. williamsi Van Zwaluwenberg, 1941 ( New Caledonia).

Remarks. Nakane (1987b) reported a specimen from Honshu, Japan as Subprotelater sp. Nakane (1991) described the species as new, S. japonicus , with the authority as “Nakane et Hisamatsu”.

Lawrence et al. (2000 onwards) showed a species from Australia without assigning it a species name.

Subprotelater hisamatsui was proposed as a junior synonym of S. bakeri based on a comparison of a dorsalview photograph of the holotype of S. bakeri ( Suzuki, 2003) . However, a detailed direct comparison between these species has not been conducted. Suzuki (2022, 2024) adhered to this suggestion and treated species from the Ogasawara Islands, Japan, as S. bakeri .

Makihara and Ôhira (2006) examined a specimen from Babeldaob Island, Palau, but did not assign it to a specific species. Suzuki (2024) subsequently treated this specimen as S. bakeri , although it has not been re-examined.

Ecology. The two new species, Subprotelater lambirensis and Subprotelater miriensis , were collected in primary lowland dipterocarp forest using FITs at heights of 30–50 m and ultraviolet light traps at 17m and 35 m, respectively (this study). Subprotelater hisamatsui was collected using Malaise traps ( Suzuki, 2003), black light traps ( Makihara and Ôhira, 2006), and sticky traps placed on branches of trees, particularly Schima mertensiana ( Suzuki, 2024) . Subprotelater japonicus has been collected in various settings, for example, on rotting wood with bracket fungi likely belonging to the family Polyporaceae ( Nakane, 1987b) and on the decaying wood of Quercus gilva ( Arimoto, 2019) , and using different methods such as FITs ( Watanabe, 2008) and vegetation beating ( Takahashi, 2010; Noto, 2024). This species was found from the lowland forest to natural forest consisting mainly of beech and mizunara oak around 800m ( Watanabe, 2008; Takahashi, 2010). The northernmost distribution of this species, and of the genus, is approximately 39.6° N, 141.1° E ( Takahashi, 2010). Subprotelater williamsi was collected while being on the bark of the weeping paperbark tree ( Melaleuca leucodendron ) in lowland areas ( Van Zwaluwenberg, 1941).