Species-group Macrolycus ligulatus (Coleoptera, Lycidae) from China has five new species

NEWS - Researchers used macrophotography to describe the sex and aedea habits of net-winged beetles (Lycidae Waterhouse 1878) and reported five new taxa. Macrolycus ligulatus living in China has diversified into M. expansus, M. quartus, M. costus, M. opacipennis, and M. curtus.

Yun Li, Ladislav Bocak and Hong Pang in 2015 divided the genus Macrolycus into nine species groups based on molecular phylogeny. The species groups are generally defined based on the shape of the apical part of the phallus and the shape of the attached structures.

The M. ligulatus species group can be distinguished from the others by the phallus which is usually ventrodistrally widened, has a U- or V-shaped notch and a tongue-like lamella at the apex. However, some species do not fit this diagnosis very well.

M. chapaensis and M. extrusus have a ventrally or dorsally widened phallic apical similar to most species of the M. murzini species group. Some species were originally included in the M. ligulatus group, such as M. parvus, M. bocakorum, and M. notaticollis, but the phallic apical portion is slightly laterally narrowed in lateral view and resembles the M. venustus species group.

Morphological similarities between the M. ligulatus and M. venustus groups have been noted, but they are treated as separate groups because they belong to different clades, although with lower support values obtained in molecular phylogenies.

These individual species are considered to be the result of convergent evolution. It is difficult to assign species to the M. ligulatus or M. murzini groups in the absence of molecular data. More samples or data are needed to clarify the classification within Macrolycus.

Now Ruolan Du, Yuxia Yang and Haoyu Liu of Hebei University in Baoding, China, and Xingke Yang of the Institute of Zoology in Beijing report five new species that closely match the M. ligulatus group diagnosis and can be distinguished from other species in the identification key.

Original research

Du R, Yang Y, Yang X, Liu H (2024). Five new species of the Macrolycus ligulatus species-group from China (Coleoptera, Lycidae). ZooKeys 1208: 315-330. DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1208.125938

Yun Li, Ladislav Bocak, Hong Pang (2015). Molecular phylogeny of Macrolycus (Coleoptera: Lycidae) with description of new species from China. Entomological Science 18: 3, 319-329. https://doi.org/10.1111/ens.12133 DOI:10.1111/ens.12133

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