Coomaniella lingafelteri Jendek & Pham, 2013

Coomaniella lingafelteri was described in 2013 from Pia Oac Nature Reserve, Cao Bang Province.

 Coomaniella lingafelteri Jendek & Pham, 2013, male - left and female - right

Pukupuku katsurai (Muramoto, 2002)

The species was described by Mr. Masayuki Fujioka under his wife's name Mrs. Rieko Muramoto in 2002. In the original description, the new species belong to Fruhstorferia genus, however the author then erected a new genus and moved two related species Frustorferia curta and F. katsurai to Pukupuku.
The species was named after Mr. Katsura who collected insects from Vietnam in many years, he married a Vietnamese girl, her name is Doan Lan Giang.
Pukupuku katsurai is a very particular species and the mature form flies in a short duration of beginning of spring in North Vietnam so it is quite rare. The species recently also found from South China.
In Vietnam, only a locality was recorded as the habitat of the species, the pristine forest, Pia Oac Nature Reserve, Cao Bang Province, North Vietnam where also is type locality of the species.

Pukupuku katsurai (Muramoto, 2002) - Male in dorsal view

Pukupuku katsurai (Muramoto, 2002) - Male in lateral view

Lucanus planeti Planet, 1899

A quite common species that found from Thailand, Vietnam and South China (Yunnan, Shichuan, Guangxi); they are very varietal in body size. It close to Lucanus vitalisi and Lucanus laminifer but clearly difference in structure of clypeus.

 

 
Male of Lucanus planeti Planet, 1899

Priotyrannus closteroides (Thomson, 1877)

A quite common species that found in Indochina, they are high elevation forest insects that can be collected mainly by light trap. Small to medium size, the body covered with shining yellow hair.
Season of mature about May to July, they must be found in South China and Laos as well, they are not so common but locally there were not many individuals be observed. Male and female similar in shape.

Priotyrannus closteroides (Thomson, 1877), male

Priotyrannus hueti Drumont, 2008

This species is one of two members of the genus that found from Vietnam. P. hueti was described from North of Vietnam by Alain Drumont in 2008 base on materials from Tam Dao National Park, Vinh Phuc Province.
It is medium large size, as compared to related species Priotyrannus closteroides (Thomson, 1877). The most remarkable characteristic of the species is a lobe on lateral side of pronotum on both male and female specimens.

Male of Priotyrannus hueti Drumont, 2008

Endemic species of Lucanus from Vietnam

There are 8 species of Lucanus that known only from Vietnam, they usually collected in good forest mountain areas with elevation over 700m.

1. Lucaus dongi

2. Lucanus fujitai (from Fujita 2010)

3. Lucanus fukinukae (from Fujita, 2010)

4. Lucanus luci (from original descrption), this species found from Ngoc Linh, Kon Tum Province (South Center of Vietnam) with large populations.

5. Lucanus kraatzi giangae, this species has been found both from Vietnam and China but the subspecies has known as an endemic taxon of Vietnam, found from Cao Bang Province, North Vietnam

6. Lucanus ngheanus (from Fujita, 2010), the specimens of type were collected from Pu Mat, Nghe An Province, however later this species also be found in Ngoc Linh, Kon Tum Province

7. Lucanus persariini (from Fujita, 2010)

My previous post on Lucanus persariini now is considered as Lucanus pulchelus (8) however its situation should be reviewed in the future.

Sataspes, carpenter bee mimicry hawk moths

Sataspes is a genus of hawk moth, Sphigidae, name of genus is meaning a Persian navigator who is cavalry commander that lead cavalry solders (horse solders). The name is a combination of two parts: sat = 100 and asp = horse with meaning of mun-ti horse team leader.

In Vietnam there are two species (among 9 species of the world) were recorded: Sataspes infernalis and Sataspes tagalica. The previous difference from the later species remarkably in the yellow marking by scales on the dorsal side of the abdomen segments.

Sataspes infernalis from Pia Oac, Cao Bang Province, North Vietnam, photographed by Cuong Do in a cloudy day (elevation about 2000m)

This moth mimic to carpenter bee both in shape and size of the body. Carpenter bee is insects of the genus Xylocopa, they are large size bee and distribute world wide. They build their nests in dead wood (bamboo, timbers...) so they are called carpenter, however some of them have nests in the ground. Xylocopa in Greek meaning wood cutter.

Cheirotonus, Long arm beetles from Vietnam

Cheirotonus is a genus of Euchiridae or some author keep them in subfamily of Melolonthidae or subfamily Euchirinae of Scarabaeidae. Their English name is long arm beetle and in Vietnamese, they are called "Cua Bay" with meaning is flying craps, anyway, the name of the genus because of their very long fore legs. In Vietnam there are four species of the genus, three of them with mun-ti spots on the elytra: Cheirotonus battareli, Cheirotonus gestroi and Cheirotonus parryi and the remain with dark green elytra: Cheirotonus jansoni. 

The species Cheirotonus parryi is the first species that named for science of the genus, its name honor to Major Frederick John Sidney Parry who was a British Army Solder and an entomologist of Entomological Society of London and Linnae Society as well. He was an specialist of Coleoptera, particularly Lucanidae. In Vietnam the species Cheirotonus parryi  has been found from Southern Forests: Cat Tien National Park, Dong Nai Province.

Male of Cheirotonus parryi with long medial spine of fore legs.

Two other yellow spotted elytra species is Cheirotonus battareli and Cheirotonus gestroi. The species Cheirotonus battareli have been found only from North Vietnam: Sa Pa (Lao Cai), Van Ban (Yen Bai), Tay Con Linh (Ha Giang), Mau Son (Lang Son), Pia Oac (Cao Bang), Tam Dao (Vinh Phuc), Pu Mat (Nghe An)... and the later species Cheirotonus gestroi maybe distributes in South Center of Vietnam: Kon Tum, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Lam Dong. They are very similar each other but difference from Cheirotonus parryi in the medial spine of fore legs (shorter). In Cheirotonus gestroi, the lobe of medial spine of fore femur without teeth but there are some teeth on it of Cheirotonus battareli. 

 

Male of Cheirotonus battareli

Male of Cheirotonus gestroi

In 1994, Muramoto published a paper with description of Cheirotonus fujiokai from China, near Vietnam border (Ha Giang Province). The question if Cheirotonus fujiokai can be found from Vietnam has not been answered, however this small size species very similar to Cheirotonus gestroi but difference from both Cheirotonus gestroi and Cheirotonus battareli in medio-lateral shallows depression of pronotum of male: in Cheirotonus fujiokai, the area just finely punctured but it is deeply punctured in two previous species. 

Male of Cheirotonus fujiokai (from original description)

Male of Cheirotonus jansoni

Lucanus persarinii Zilioli, 1998 and Lucanus kazumiae ZIlioli, 1998

Lucanus is a very diversity genus in Vietnam, particularly North Vietnam; the species Lucanus persarinii was described by Zilioli in 1998. The author based on a single specimen that collected from Tam Dao 2 (in his paper the name of the locality is Tam Dao Hai), the holotype was not deposited in a public museum but in the author private collection.

Lucanus persarinii never been studied in a series of specimens and the hotlotype seem is a medium male. In the same paper, Zilioli also described another new species that found from Cao Bang Province, the species Lucanus kazumiae. The single holotype was based for the description and it is a large male, author also kept the holotype in his private collection. The species Lucanus persarinii never been recorded again in Tam Dao because the habitats of insects of the national park now have been changed very much, and the species Lucanus kazumiae from Cao Bang has not been confirmed again.

In the field trip to North Vietnam this year, 2014, I found a species with a series of sizes, from small to large males. An interesting thing is the medium male matched very well to Lucanus persarinii, but the large males are very similar to the species Lucanus kazumiae. So my opinion it is very possible that two species described by Zilioli just an one species.

The question about Lucanus persarinii and Lucanus kazumiae are synonyms only be answered if a series of each species be compared together. The photos below are the first time the species Lucanus persarinii/Lucanus kazumiae be recorded in nature with life photos.

 

Medium size male of Lucanus persarinii/Lucanus kazumiae, photographed by Cuong Do, 2014 (external morphology matches with Lucanus persarinii in the original description)

Large size male of Lucanus persarinii/Lucanus kazumiae, photographed by Cuong Do, 2014 (external morphology matches with Lucanus kazumiae in the original description)

Small size male of Lucanus persarinii/Lucanus kazumiae, photographed by Cuong Do, 2014

Female of Lucanus persarinii/Lucanus kazumiae, photographed by Cuong Do, 2014

Teinopalpus aureus from Vietnam

Teinopalpus aureus is a rare buttefly that found from high elevation forests. In Vietnam, there has been two subspecies of T. aureus, Teinopalpus aureus shinkaii and Teinopalpus aureus eminens. They are Papilionidae butterflies that listed as protected species.

The subspecies Teinopalpus aureus eminens was described by Turlin in 1991, the male holotype was collected from Dong Nai, South Vietnam (elevation is 1500m) and deposited in Nature History Museum, London, England. The subspecies later be found many high land area in South Vietnam: Di Linh and Bidoup National Park, Lam Dong Province, Dak Nong Province, Hon Ba Nature Reserve, Khanh Hoa Provicne. Recently the subspecies also was found in center of Vietnam (Vu Quang National Park, Ha Tinh Province).


Dorsal view of male of Teinopalpus aureus eminens, Dak Nong Province.

Mr. Shinkai collected materials of Teinopalpus aureus from Pia Oac Mountain, Cao Bang Province in 1995 and Tam Dao National Park, Vinh Phuc Province from 1990 - 1998. Based on the materials, Morita described the new species and named after Mr. Shinkai, the paper was published in 1998 with the hotoype is male specimen from Pia Oac, Cao Bang, this holotype is deposited in Morita's collection. Recent year, the subspecies also was recorded from Pu Mat, Nghe An Province, North Center of Vietnam.

A male of Teinopalpus aureus shinkaii Morita, 1998, dorsal view (Tam Dao National Park, Vinh Phuc Province)

Teinopalpus aureus shinkaii and Teinopalpus aureus eminens males can be separated by the shape of yellow triangle cell of the hind wings. The triangle cell of shinkaii is much more larger than it of eminens.

 
Triangle cells of hind wings of T. aureus shinkaii (left) and T. aureus eminens (right).

Prismognathus and Eligmondontus from North Vietnam

In 1997, Haruo Ikeda described three new species of Prismognathus from North Vietnam on Gekkan-Mushi, a Japanese entomological journal. They are small size Lucanidae beetles and only found from in high elevation forests. Recently, DNA studies showed that they are closed to Lucanus genus. In this group, before Ikeda's publication, there had been only Eligmondontus kanghianus Didider & Seguy, 1953 that recorded for Vietnamese fauna.

Eligmodontus kanghianus from Lao Cai Province (Sa Pa) (scanned picture from Ikeda's description)

In his paper, except species P. katsurai that found from Cao Bang Province, type specimens of two species P. siniaevi and P. miyashitai found from Sa Pa, Lao Cai Province. Name of the species P. katsurai was honored to a Japanese collector, Mr. Nobuhiko Katsura who still is collecting insect from Vietnam until now; Mr. Victor Siniaev and Mr. Tetsuo Miyashita were honored in two remain species.

Species E. kanghianus and P. siniaevi later also recorded from Pia Oac Mountain, Cao Bang Province but P. miyashitai seem quite rare and only found from Sa Pa, Lao Cai Province in Vietnam.

Prismognathus miyashitai (male holotype and female paratype) in the original description.

Holotype of Prismognathus siniaevi (from original description)

Holotype (large male) and paratype (small male) of Prismognathus katsurai with a remarkable horn of eye canthus (from original description)

There is an interesting part of the description, all the holotype and paratype of three new species were deposited in private collections, not any public collection (Museum or Public collection). It is not to much problem in this case of Prismognathus because it is not too hard to find that three species in locality of holotype. Many taxonomial journals now ask the author deposite the holotype in a public collection before accept the manuscript, then it will help other researchers can access or study the holotype without private problems; particularly if we can not finding the species in locality of type specimens.

Neurobasis chinensis (Linnaeus, 1758)

This is quite common Asian species and is one of the earliest known species of dragonfly. It was named by Linnae based on a picture in book cover of bird. And because in the picture the specimen was drawn with the wings in horizontal position, this species formerly was put in Anisoptera suborder by Linnae. Name of species is specified its locality, from China.

The medium sized damselfly, this species has shining green body and hind-wing is metallic green. The head, thorax and abdomen of the male are metallic green while female has fader green body. The wings of the male distinguish from them of the female. Female’s fore-wing has a white spot at pterosigma position – psedopterostigma, while male’s fore-wings are dust yellowish hyaline and instead of psedopterostigma, there is a white spot at nodus position. The hind-wings of female are shinning colorful, metallic green with an apical black patch on upper side and they are quite dust yellowish hyaline in female.

They are very active damselflies, and live at open swift streams from low to high lands. They never fly far from their breeding habitat; males are strict in territorial defense by showing their flash metallic green hind-wings. Males fly very close to the water surface while females usually perch on vegetations nearby. In courtship flying, males usually keep the hind-wing open in horizontal position to show the flash green upper surface of the wings under sunshine. Sometime males just clap their hind-wings as resting and the action is signal to other males in territorial informing or to coming females for mating. Females insert their eggs into aqua vegetation tissue; in many cases, female sinks in the water during the oviposition while the male around.

Male, photographed by Cuong Do, Ba Vi

Male, photographed by Cuong Do, Pioac Nature Reserve, Cao Bang Province

Male, showing his hind wing in opened position, photographed by Cuong Do, Hon Ba Nature Reserve, Khanh Hoa Province

Lucanus kraatzi giangae Ikeda, 1997

The taxon was described by Haruo Ikeda as a subspecies of Lucanus kraatzi Nagel, 1926.

The subspecies L. kraatzi giangae found from North Vietnam, near Vietnam-China border. The taxon also considered as Vietnamese endemic subspecies. The subspecies was named after a Vietnamese, who is the wife of a Japanese's collector, Ms. Doan Lan Giang. 

The subspecies can be easy separated to L. kraatzi kraatzi Nagel, 1926 based on the position of the middle teeth on mandible. The teeth about the middle of mandible in L. kraatzi giangae but it look near the apex in L. kraatzi kraatzi. The size of L. kraatzi giangae also larger than it related subspecies. L. kraatzi kraatzi was found in Yunnan Province, South China.

L. kraatzi giangae was found in the good forests with elevation about 1900m.

Lucanus kraatzi giangae Ikeda, 1997 (dorsal view)

Lucanus kraatzi giangae Ikeda, 1997 (oblique view)