Salagubang

Undescribed Pachyrrhynchus sp., female

Undescribed Metapocyrtus sp., female

I have collected only once on the lower flanks of Mt. Matutum, South Cotabato a few years ago and it was in this mountain where I was able to get two almost similar species of Pachyrrhynchini, both undescribed. The first one is a Pachyrrhynchus sp. and the second is its mimic Metapocyrtus. It was rather unusual since these two species were collected on a few trees in a clearing that clearly used to be forest.

The resemblance is striking. Except for the greener color of the Metapocyrtus sp., the stripes match well with the Pachyrrhynchus species mimic.

Nemophas ramosi SCHULTZE 1920, new status

My thanks to Francesco Vitali who sent me his paper co-authored with Vitali Nagirnyi entitled Nemophas ramosi SCHULTZE, 1920 A Forgotten Philippine Species (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) which tackles the long overdue status revision of this species which has been, according to the authors, erroneously synonymized and treated by Breuning. This paper, published by Lambillionea, corrects this and gives a new key to the genus.

Initially described by W. Schultze of the Bureau of Science in Manila as N. rosenbergii ramosi in 1920 as published in the Philippine Journal of Science entitled Eight Contribution to the Coleoptera Fauna of the Philippines, the two authors find enough unique physical markings to separate it from N. rosenbergii RITSEMA 1881 which is found in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The paper lists 16 species of which three occur in the Philippines:

• Nemophas ramosi SCHULTZE 1920 (Mindanao)
• Nemophas subterrubens SCHULTZE 1924, and (Samar)
• Nemophas subcylindricus AURIVILLIUS 1927 (Mindanao and Luzon)

Curiously, the genus is found only on three inter related faunal regions in the country: Luzon, Samar/Leyte subregion and Mindanao.

Undescribed Pachyrrhynchus sp. from Bukidnon, model

Undescribed Metapocyrtus sp. from Bukidnon, mimic

In the hinterlands of Bukidnon province, island of Mindanao, at the lower elevations of the Kitanglad Mountain Range is an undescribed Pachyrrhynchus sp. with its Metapocyrtus sp. mimic that is also new to Science but undescribed. The similarities are startling and both are found in the same small area feeding on the same plants. However, the former is a little bit larger than the model.

Last month, I added around 14 new images of beetles here in salagubang.net. Click on the images below to go to the individual image or pages.

Acalolepta sp., male

Acalolepta sp., female

Ziglipton sanchezi SCHULTZE 1920, male

Pothyne sp.

Blepephaeus sp.

Pachyrrhynchus taylori metallescens SCHULTZE 1923

Pachyrrhynchus sanchezi HELLER 1912

Pachyrrhynchus sp., female

Pachyrrhynchus sp., male

Metapocyrtus sp., female

Metapocyrtus sp., male

Xenocerus sp., male

Chrysodema sp.

Carabidae sp.

There are some interesting species in this batch of images. The two Pachyrrhynchus sp., shown here as male and female and the Metapocyrtus sp., also male and female, occurs in the same locality and shrubs where these were collected. Because of the striking resemblance, it is safe to say that the latter is a mimic of the former.

Pachyrrhynchus erichsonni eschscholtzi WATERHOUSE 1841

Doliops curculionides WATERHOUSE 1841

The resemblance is uncanny. From the almost similar size to the markings, it can be confused to be a curculionid.