Lapitachlaenius specularis Kipling & Will 2025, n. comb.

Lapitachlaenius specularis (Emden, 1937) n. comb. (Figs 8A, B; 9, 10; Table 3) TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Vanuatu • 1 ♂; Erromango Isl.; VIII.1930; L. E. Cheesman leg.; “ Chlaenius specularis n. sp. van Emden” det. 1937; B. M. 1930-496; NHMUK. Paratypes. Vanuatu • 1 ♂; Erromango Isl.; VIII.1930; L. E. Cheesman leg.; NHMUK 014439769 • 1 ♀; Erromango Isl.; VIII.1930; L. E. Cheesman leg.; NHMUK 015543670. The holotype and four paratypes are stored in NHMUK. With the assistance of Dr Hongbin Liang and Dr Alexander Anichtchenko (see Acknowledgements), we were able to virtually, by means of images, investigate the holotype and two paratypes (Figs 8A, B; 9). DIAGNOSIS. — This species is distinct from L. speculiferus n. comb., in that stria 7 is distinctly curved outward near the middle of elytron (Fig. 8B), the pronotum basal edge with setal fringe in medial half, the ventral side of male profemur without tooth-like tubercle near base (Fig. 9) and the median lobe of aedeagus with shorter shaft and apical lamella bent to left (Figs 10B, E). Emden (ibid.) stated that L. specularis n. comb. has the third elytral stria with 5-7 setiferous discal punctures and that its mandibles are densely wrinkled dorsally whereas specimens of its Fijian congener exhibit the third stria with 4 (very rarely with 5) punctures and the dorsal side of the mandibles only moderately wrinkled. REMARKS This species was described by Emden (1937) from the island of Erromango, the fourth-largest island in the Vanuatu archipelago. The author provided a rather good, for that time, description and placed it in the genus Chlaenius. In his discussion, Emden stressed several important features: 1) elytron with a roughly triangular specular spot, broadly reaching the suture, touching the tip of the 4th or 5th lateral striae, shiny around the 2nd punctured of the 3rd interval and the varying color nuances in and around the spot; 2) pronotum disc basal impressions continuing towards the front border as indistinct S-shaped impressions; 3) 3rd elytral stria with 5-7 engraved punctures, the first and second of which lie in the “mirror” spot; and 4) underside and upper side of body glabrous. At the end of description, the author expressed suggestion that the species may belong to a separate genus: “Die gerunzelten Mandibeln, die wohl sogar die Aufstellung einer besonderen Gattung rechtfertigen würden, und der Spiegelfleck trennen die Art von allen bekannten [The wrinkled mandibles, which would probably even justify the establishment of a separate genus, and the mirror spot separate the species from all known]”. The careful examination of the Emden’s description as well as images of and information about characters in the holotype and two paratypes (see the above “Type material”) show that this species shares with Lapitachlaenius speculiferus n. comb. all the autapomorphies of the new genus. These species appear very closely related based on their shared morphological similarities and that they inhabit very close, though isolated islands. Based on this evidence we concluded both species form a clade we treat as a genus. On the other hand, several clear distinctions between the two species (see Diagnosis under L. speculiferus n. comb.) are evidence that the two taxa are distinct and plausibly reproductively isolated species.