Taxonomy And Comparative Morphology Study On The Astathini Of China

The tribe Astathini belongs to Lamiinae of Cerambycidae of Coleoptera. Many species in this tribe are main pests of agriculture and forestry. Larvae damage trunk and adults gnaw leaves. The research history of Astathini at home and abroad and comparative morphology, and the economic significance of this tribe are briefly introduced in this paper. We work on taxonomy and morphological comparison. The main results are following:1. Taxonomy41 species and 6 genera of Astathini in China are recorded and described. The male genital morphological characters of 12 species and the female genital morphological characters of 14 species are described. Habitus and genitalia of some species is presented. Type specimens of 18 species in 5 genera are examined, specimen examination accounting for 83% in genus-level, and 44% in species-level.Momisis submonticola Breuning,1968 is newly recorded from China and Bacchisa (Bacchisa) guerryi (Pic,1911) is newly recorded from Laos.2. Comparative morphology studyComparative morphology study on genus-level:92 morphological characters are selected for study, such as shape of scape, length of antennae, position where metasternum process extension between mesocoxa, shape of elytra, color of abdomen, color of tibia, shape of the male 8th abdominal segment, ratio of the length of lateral lobe versus that of tegmen, ratio of the length of median lobe versus that of median struts, shape of 8th abdominal segment of females, position where ovipositor bifurcate. The result of comparative study among 5 genera of Astathini indicate that there are 13 morphological characters such as length of scape of antennae, position where metasternum process extension between mesocoxa, length of lateral lobes, shape of styli, shape of bursa copulatrix could be used for identification at genus level. Among these characters, there are 10 characters which are first to be found for taxonomic use through the present study, such as shape of the 2ed segment of antennae, shape of the male 8th abdominal segment, length of lateral lobes, length of roof, shape of the female 8th abdominal segment and shape of styli.Comparative morphology study in species-level: 92 morphological characters are selected for study, such as shape of scape, color of metasternum, shape of elytra, color of abdomen, color of femur, shape of apex of median lobe, shape of styli. The results indicate that the characters which have taxonomic significance in different genera are not identical. And there are 28 morphological characters such as whether the position between antennal fossa concave, the character of the apex of scape, color of elytra, hairs of elytra, ratio of the length of median lobe versus that of median struts, shape of the apex of median lobe, length of lateral lobes, length of the rod of the apex of internal sac, shape of styli can be used for species-level identification, and the genital character, especially the male genital characters plays an important role in the classification of the tribe. Among these characters, there are 14 new taxonomic characters which were found through the study, such as whether it has a ridge in the base of frons, hairs of elytra, length of lateral lobes, hairs of lateral lobes, length of roof, shape of the apex of ring, ratio of the length of median lobe versus that of median struts, shape of the apex of median lobe, length of the rod of the apex of internal sac, shape of styli.17 characters were selected to identify species in genus Bacchisa, such as shape of scape, color of abdomen, shape of lateral lobes, shape of the apex of ventral plate of median lobe.9 characters were selected to identify species in genus Plaxomicrus, such as color of antennae, color of metasternum, ratio of the length versus width of elytra, color of femur.14 characters were selected to identify species in genus Tetraophthalmus, such as whether frons has ridge at base, color of elytra, setation of lateral lobe, shape of the apex of ventral plate of median lobe.Sexual characters:Compared 92 morphological characters in Astathini, it is suggested that there are 2 characters which can be used to distinguishing between male and female. Antennae: the male antennae are longer than female; the 5th abdominal segment:the 5th abdominal segment of female are beiger than male, and with longitudinal furrow at middle.According to the results of comparative morphological research, Bacchisa fortunei flavicornis Kano,1933 is the junior synonym of B. fortunei fortunei Thomson,1857, and Tetraophthalmus janthinipennis yunnanensis Breuning,1956 is the junior synonym of T. janthinipennis janthinipennis (Fairmaire,1895). In addition, the keys and the description are proposed in the present dissertation.