Paraethus LIS, 1994

Genus Paraethus LIS, 1994

Paraethus LIS, 1994: 248

Paraethus LIS : LIS 1999: 213 (catalog)

Paraethus LIS : PLUOT-SIGWALT & LIS (2008): 293 (spermatheca)

Diagnosis revised

The genus Paraethus ist best diagnosed by the set of following characters: The antennae 5-segmented; the head bearing both peg-like and hair like setae in a submarginal row ( figs. 1, 4, 7); the anterior margin of the pronotum angularly insinuated in the middle; the pronotum umbones not swollen; the apex of the vestibulum (peritrema 1 of several authors) of the metathoracic gland with a claw-like spur pointing laterally ( figs. 3, 6, 9-10); the posterior tibiae conspicuously flattened. Intermediate part of the spermatheca swollen and flanges greatly developed, spermathecal opening in front of a triangular sclerified fold of the dorsal wall of the vagina ( figs. 26-31) Ƌ.

Discussion

Save for the spermatheca, all those characters were already in the description of the genus made by LIS (1994). The setigerous punctures of the clypeus indicated in the original diagnosis appeared to be a character restricted to P. ajmericus LIS, 1994 and has consequentely been withdrawn from the diagnosis.

The characters relative to the spermatheca were not in the original description. They have been 1 According to KMENT & VILíMOVá (2010), the term ‘peritrema’ should be restricted to an area surrounding the ostiole, and the part of the Cydnidae thoracic scent efferent system previously designed by this term should be renamed ‘vestibulum’ brought forward by PLUOT-SIGWALT & LIS (2008) in their paper relative to the spermatheca of Cydnidae and have been verified in the present work for all the African species of the genus, as well as in P. lisi n. sp. Precise examination of the dorsal wall of the vagina reveals that the sclerotized area quoted in their paper consists in a arrowhead-shaped fold of the dorsal wall, more or less sclerified on both sides. Shared with the genus Geocnethus HORVáTH, considered by LIS (1994) as possibly related to Paraethus , these spermathecal characters are clearly different from those seen in the genus Aethus .

The presence of spines on the head margin allow an easy separation from genus Geocnethus , the claw-like spur from Aethus . Furthermore, as indicated in LIS (1996b), it appears that the evaporatorium is bilobate in all the species of the genus, being interrupted by a shiny stripe between meso- and metapleuron, starting about the apex of vestibulum. On the contrary in the genus Aethus the evaporatoria are compact, ininterrupted. This fairly conspicuous feature gives an easy mean of separation between the two genera, whereas observation of the flattening of hind femur and worse of the shape of the apex of vestibulum is not always easy on collection specimens. However, this character has only a practical use, it cannot be considered as generic because this polished band is on the mesopleuron in some species, on the metapleuron in the other, and is therefore not homologous.

Key to the species of Paraethus

1 Fore tibia presenting a short process surpassing tarsus insertion ( figs. 13-14)......... 2 – Fore tibia without process ( fig. 12)........ 3

2 Clypeus free, each paraclypeus with 10-11 peg-like setae, from Java..... jani LIS, 1995 – Clypeus enclosed, each paraclypeus with 8 peg-like setae, from Australia..... lisi n. sp.

3 Clypeus apically with two setigerous punctures................ ajmericus LIS, 1994 – Clypeus apically without setigerous punctures. 4

4 Costal margin of elytra elevated......... 6 – Costal margin elevated at most at base.... 5

5 Smaller species (5.5 mm)............................... lucidus ( LINNAVUORI, 1977) – Larger species (6.7-7.7 mm).......................... splendidus ( LINNAVUORI, 1993)

6 Pale reddish brown species, puncturation of upper surface very fine... sigwalti LIS, 1996 – Black or dark brown species, upper surface disctincly punctured................... 7

7 Small elongate species, less than 5.5 mm ................. seyidiensis ( JEANNEL, 1913) _ Ovate, larger species, more than 6.0 mm.. 8

8 Moderately large species 6-10 mm ....... 9 – Very large species, more than 10.5 mm .. 10

9* Very shiny, polished, punctation sparse and coarse........ capicola (WESTWOOD, 1837) – Less shiny, shagreened, punctation lighter, more evenly distributed........................... saprinoides (GERSTAECKER, 1873)

10 Ocular index less than 2.5 (2.40-2.45), larger (12.5-14.0 mm)............. raunoi n. sp. – Ocular index more than 2.7 (2.7-3.1), smaller (10.7-12.3 mm)............. riegeri n. sp.