Guangdong bolbos (Bolbelasmus guangdongensis) established as a new species of beetle in science

NEWS - Adult Guangdong bolbos (Bolbelasmus guangdongensis) found in the lowlands, on the edge of a maar in Huguangyan National Geopark, have a short flight period, from late April to early June. Weiqi Liao and Zhengwei Wu of Ocean University in Zhanjiang City upheld this beetle as new to science.

Bolbelasmus Boucomont 1910 is one of the largest bolboceratine genera established for Bolboceras bocchus Erichson 1841, Bolboceras gallicus Mulsant 1842 and Bolboceras unicornis Schrank von Paula 1789. Kolbeus was established for Bolboceras arcuatum Bates 1887 and Bolboceras coreanum Kolbe 1886, but this genus was later treated as a synonym of the genus Bolbelasmus by Cartwright (1953) or a subgenus by Nikolajev (1996).

Bolbelasmus previously contained 31 species, including the subgenus Kolbeus and distributed from Oriental to Central America. Recently, 11 species have been recorded in Asia, 6 of them in China (B. coreanus, B. meridionalis Krikken 1977, B. nativus Krikken 1977, B. minutus Li & Masumoto 2008, B. chifengi Wang & Li 2024 and B. yutangi Li & Wang 2024).

Adult males are 5.6-15.2 mm long. Clypeus border arcuate (upturned on both sides), mandibular insertion often with a small tubercle with a punctate frontal tubercle, eyes not completely divided by the canthus, seven striae between the elytral suture and the humeral callus, the first elytral striae reaching the scutellum and the parameres usually weakly sclerotized.

B. guangdongensis is included in the subgenus Kolbeus based on the immarginate pronotal base and elongate scutellum. The new species resembles Bolbelasmus coreanus, Bolbelasmus meridionalis and Bolbelasmus chifengi but with a longer body (9 mm) and a frontal tubercle at the junction of the clipeofrontal suture.

Original research

Liao W, Wu Z (2024). A new species of Bolbelasmus (Coleoptera, Bolboceratidae) from Guangdong Province, China. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e131664, DOI:10.3897/BDJ.12.e131664

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