Subprotelater Fleutiaux 1916

Genus Subprotelater Fleutiaux, 1916 Subprotelater Fleutiaux, 1916: (original description; type species: Subprotelater bakeri). Diagnosis. This genus is distinguished from the other elaterid genera by the deep antennal grooves between pronotum and hypomeron and the deeply grooved pronotosternal sutures receiving pro-tarsi. Included species. Seven species: S. bakeri Fleutiaux, 1916 (Philippines: Luzon), S. guttatus Fleutiaux, 1919 (Singapore), S. hisamatsui Nakane, 1987 (Japan: Ogasawara Islands), S. japonicus Nakane and Hisamatsu, 1991 (Japan: Honshu), S. lambirensis Arimoto, sp. nov. (Malaysia: Borneo), S. miriensis Arimoto, sp. nov. (Malaysia: Borneo), S. williamsi Van Zwaluwenberg, 1941 (New Caledonia). Remarks. Nakane (1987b) reported a specimen from Honshu, Japan as Subprotelater sp. Nakane (1991) described the species as new, S. japonicus, with the authority as “Nakane et Hisamatsu”. Lawrence et al. (2000 onwards) showed a species from Australia without assigning it a species name. Subprotelater hisamatsui was proposed as a junior synonym of S. bakeri based on a comparison of a dorsalview photograph of the holotype of S. bakeri (Suzuki, 2003). However, a detailed direct comparison between these species has not been conducted. Suzuki (2022, 2024) adhered to this suggestion and treated species from the Ogasawara Islands, Japan, as S. bakeri. Makihara and Ôhira (2006) examined a specimen from Babeldaob Island, Palau, but did not assign it to a specific species. Suzuki (2024) subsequently treated this specimen as S. bakeri, although it has not been re-examined. Ecology. The two new species, Subprotelater lambirensis and Subprotelater miriensis, were collected in primary lowland dipterocarp forest using FITs at heights of 30–50 m and ultraviolet light traps at 17m and 35 m, respectively (this study). Subprotelater hisamatsui was collected using Malaise traps (Suzuki, 2003), black light traps (Makihara and Ôhira, 2006), and sticky traps placed on branches of trees, particularly Schima mertensiana (Suzuki, 2024). Subprotelater japonicus has been collected in various settings, for example, on rotting wood with bracket fungi likely belonging to the family Polyporaceae (Nakane, 1987b) and on the decaying wood of Quercus gilva (Arimoto, 2019), and using different methods such as FITs (Watanabe, 2008) and vegetation beating (Takahashi, 2010; Noto, 2024). This species was found from the lowland forest to natural forest consisting mainly of beech and mizunara oak around 800m (Watanabe, 2008; Takahashi, 2010). The northernmost distribution of this species, and of the genus, is approximately 39.6° N, 141.1° E (Takahashi, 2010). Subprotelater williamsi was collected while being on the bark of the weeping paperbark tree (Melaleuca leucodendron) in lowland areas (Van Zwaluwenberg, 1941).