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The long awaited Revision de genre Anubis Thomson, 1864 by Vives, Bentanachs and Juhel has been published by Magellanes last September. This is the latest work by the three author-entomologists of which, Vives and Bentanachs are doing a revision of Southeast Asian Callichromatini (Cerambycidae).

The work features all the known members (23 species and two subspecies) of the genus from both the Oriental and Ethiopian regions and includes 53 beautiful photos as well as some genitalia illustrations. The Philippines is represented by a lone species, Anubis manillarum CHEVROLAT 1838. This species have been listed by several authors like Hayashi and Hudepohl as A. bifasciatus NEWMAN 1842.

I was going over my collection and I was quite astonished to see a pair of Astathini species that is unlike what I have. I’m not sure if this is of genus Astathes since the pronotal structure, especially the central part is different. It is carinated, unlike the conical form or raised quadrate projection that I’m familiar with. The metallic blue fascia, while rather common in other species of the tribe is limited to the upper half of the elytra but never reaching the base.

What species can this be?

It seems that there are still many uncommon species that can still be found in my collection that I have just featured lately. Vives will be describing a new species from Mindanao, Eustathes mindanaonis in an upcoming paper (Eustathes sp. in this post) but when I checked my Astathini specimens, another surprising Eustathes comes up.

Its coloration is yellowish compared to E. mindanaonis. The first four segments of its antenna are not solid black but with brown coloration and its pronotum, especially the lateral parts is more acute compared to the softer, more rounded form of the latter. Can this be another, undescribed species that might be the third Eustathes to occur in the country?

I sent photos of five specimens of Parandra in my collection to Dan Heffern who subsequently sent it to Antonio Santos-Silva. The feedback? While actual specimens will really tell the actual species, based on the images, these are two of the new species in the Philippines. Dan indicated that the structure of the mandibles are important in separating the different species. These two were collected in the same locality in Mindanao.

Five new images have been added to my Agrilinae gallery based on specimens that I have collected a few years ago but haven’t photographed until last month. The first two were collected in Mindanao while the remaining three from Luzon.

Unlike with Cerambycidae where I generally have references and the contacts that help me in the identification, I’m quite in a bind when it comes to the Buprestidae, much more with the Agrilinae.

I’m not really sure as to the identification down to species level of these five specimens but I think that one to three (top and left, second row) might be Agrilus, a rather common genus that is well represented in different islands in the country. I’m not sure about the fourth (right, second row). The fifth might be under genus Trachys Endelus. It is the first time I have seen and collected this one and really, upon close inspection, its form is quite unique.

So far, I have collected all these from two major islands only.

After a few months since I started redesigning this website using cascading style sheet (CSS), I’ve finally done half of the families: Cerambycidae, Buprestidae, Carabidae and Anthribidae. This entailed redoing the gallery and species pages. As I added a signature to each individual species images, I also need to process again the photos either direct from the RAW file or if it’s not available, edit it from the jpeg or, gasp, reshoot the specimen again! Wow, it’s really much, much work that has kept me occupied!

With these four already done, there are still 4 to do: Scarabaeidae, Curculionidae, Cicindelidae and Lucanidae. And it ain’t easy. A good portion needs to be reshot and I still have to sort out some mistakes in the identification or grouping. Well, in due time, this will be finished, including the various checklists.

Last November 07, I posted about two unidentified Xenocerus sp. in my collection. Fortunately, through the wonders of the internet, Barry Valentine, an authority in Anthribidae got in touch with me and he identified these as Xenocerus dacrytus JORDAN 1924, left, and Xenocerus barbicornis virgatus JORDAN 1913, right.

He, however expressed his doubts to the status of the latter stating that the nominal species was described from New Guinea and it is possible that X. barbicornis virgatus may prove to be a valid species. Thanx Barry for this one.

There are only two species of Psilomerus species described in the Philippines: P. brachialis CHEVROLAT 1863 and P. lumawigi HUDEPOHL 1992 from Romblon. Like the other many species of the genus found in Borneo, each elytron of the latter species has a white strip of tomentum almost running the entire length. What is unique about the Romblon species is that the pronotum is red, as written by the author.

This one, collected in Mindanao and is in my collection for quite a number of years now is different with its pronotum black. Can this be an undescribed species? Considering the not so known Coleoptera fauna of the country, especially with tribe Clytini*, its possible. There is a need for more collections in several islands. Palawan might yield interesting specimens considering that Borneo has these species.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been studied yet.

*The last major listing of Tribe Clytini (Cerambycinae, Cerambycidae) was done by Aurivillius in his paper Revision of the Philippine Species of the Clytini (Coleoptera, Longicornia) published at the Philippine Journal of Science in 1928. From that year until Hudepohl’s Longhorn Beetle of the Philippines III (Entomofauna Zeitschrift fur Entomologie, 1992) and from that paper until now, none have been described!

Collecting beetles is enjoyable not only because of the adventure in the pursuit and the beauty that these insects display with their color and variety but more importantly, it is the satisfaction of contributing in broadening the knowledge of Philippine Coleoptera. Beetles are the biggest insect order in the world and, in the case of the Philippines, it is very much understudied.

Over the years, I have kept in touch with various entomologists and Coleoptera specialists and three names crop up in helping me make this important undertaking:

• Eduard Vives (Cerambycidae, several species)
• Charles Bellamy (Buprestidae, one species)
• Fabio Cassola (Cicindelidae, one species)

I’m very thankful for these gentlemen especially with Eduard who I’ve met twice. He has followed in the footsteps of the great entomologists who have studied Philippine Cerambycidae like Hudepohl, Breuning, Schultze, Heller, etc. What started as an inquiry a few years ago on specimens of Philippine Lepturinae that I have in the course of his study of this group in the Southeast Asian region has broadened into a keen interest with the other Cerambycid subfamilies.

Because of this collaborations, I have contributed to the discovery of several new species that are either published or awaiting publication as well as suspected to be new and are being studied. For now, these are about 20 species, and growing. For a complete list of these fascinating beetles, READ further.

I got great news regarding the Parandra sp. found in the country! I just got an email from Dan Heffern that their study (together with Antonio Santos-Silva) of Parandrinae in Asia has yielded 4-5 new species belonging to a new genus! Isn’t that great?

In the Philippines, Hudepohl, in his The Longhorn Beetles of the Philippines Part II, included Parandra janus BATES 1875, the only one to occur in the country. With this new development, the Parandrinae fauna will be increased.

As the two entomologists are still continuing with their study, more specimens from the country are needed. I will send mine when I will get back to Cebu. In the meantime, I have photographed the heads of the different specimens I have and will be posting it soon. When my notebook computer will be okay.