Forum Entomologi Italiani

Ciao,
Questo stuzzica particolarmente la mia curiosità, perché non capita tutti i giorni di beccare un Elateridae con un pronoto bicolore.

Gli elateridi con pronoto bicolore sono in realtà molti. Purtroppo qui non si vedono per nulla le antenne e scarsamente gli articoli tarsali per arrivare a qualche conclusione, poi mancano le dimensioni!

Sorry...the length is 11 mm

I suspect this is not an elaterid - could you take a photo of the underside? Working hypothesis is Spinifornax salvazai (Fleutiaux, 1918) or a related species.

The trail of a false click-beetle, and especially of a Spinifornax sp. seems very convincing, I'll work to-morrow on the various Eucnemidae of Thailand that we can find on the Web and I'll revert. Thank you for your very useful suggestion

These are the results of my researches:
1) I found no indication of the presence of any Spinifornax in Thailand; however, Spinifornax salvazai [i] is present in Laos, which is in direct vicinity with Thailand, and we all know that many beetles keep travelling and have the habit of appearing for the first time in many successive countries : therefore, I see no problem here.
2) [i]Spinifornax salvazai elytral disc is described as "variably unicoloured orange". The sole image available on the Web shows two extremely large orange spots on the black elytra. My specimen does not possess these orange spots. On this point, it appears that any conclusive opinion is theoretically not possible, as everything depends on the meaning attributed to "variably" : some entomologists would assess that "variably" regards the extent of these spots, but considering that these spots have nethertheless to be present, even on a small scale; others will argue, on the contrary, that the variability is not restricted and can extend from zero surface to the full elytra spotted.
3) The image I referred to has the pronotum colours differently arranged compared to those of my specimen.

Taking all these remarks into account, it can be that the clue of Spinifornax salvazai is the right one, but it can also be believed that my specimen is another Spinifornax, maybe new to Science.

I will try, to-morrow, to unstick it and take the pictures suggested.

1. At least one species (S. superbus) was indicated from Thailand (Siam: Chantaboum = Chanthaburi), but that species is quite different from your specimen.
2. About the coloration of S. salvazai Fleutiaux (1947) wrote the following: "Chez le type unique, la tache rouge, sans doute accidentelle, apparaît au millieu des élytres; ils sont complètement noirs chez les exemplaires reçus depuis".

Actually, your specimen may well belong to an undescribed species (many of them remain to be described), but this question cannot be resolved without a thorough(!) study of the type specimens of the described species. Plus, I suspect your specimen is a female, which makes the task much more difficult.

Very interesting ! I am amazed that the descriptions made by Fleutiaux and Otto were so different. Considering that all specimens detained by Fleutiaux, except the type, were without any orange spot, and that with a female we cannot check whether new or not new for the Science, I'll call my specimen S. cf salvazai.
It seems to be no longer useful to unclick it. Thanks very much for this dialogue

Yes, I think this is the most justified solution at the moment...