S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 52. (Budapest, 1992)

FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK LU (1991) 1992 p. 21-28 Taxonomic notes on Cyphogastra Deyrolle (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) I. The subgenus Guamia Théry By R Holynski (Received December 12, 1988) Taxonomic notes on Cyphogastra Deyrolle (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) I. The subgenus Guamia Théry. Guamia Théry Ls revalidated and redefined. Synonymy of described forms is discussed, key to four accepted species provided, and evolutionary history of the subgenus reconstructed. The genus Cyphogastra Deyrolle, one of the biggest in the tribe Buprestini Leach (sensu Holynski 1988), contains about fifty species widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific Region from the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Java to the Marquesas, and from Northern Australia to Guam. Owing to their big size and usually bright colouration, the representatives of this genus are favourite quarry for both amateurs and professionals, and many species are represented in collections in very long series. Nevertheless - as is, paradoxically enough, frequently the case with big and beautiful animals - their taxonomy is still rather poorly understood: earlier workers have left us with a multitude of names and sometimes strikingly superficial descriptions, which in many cases decidedly obscured the general picture instead of making it clear. The present paper is the first of the series aimed at the clarification of taxonomic relations within Cyphogastra Deyrolle. Théry (1930) refers to "le sous-genre Guamia" as if previously described, but I have not managed to locate such a description; it remained apparently unknown to the editors of the Zoological Record (checked from 1926), and of the catalogues of Obenberger (1926) and Bellamy (1985) as well. However, the paper cited above refers to a distinctive feature of the subgenus, making the name available as Guamia Théry, 1930. Its author considered only C. auripennis Saunders and C. longueti Théry as belonging to this taxon, explicitly excluding C. bedoci Théry, but this latter and an apparently not validly described (unless identical with C. taitina Kerremans - see below) species determined in the collection of the British Museum (Natural History) as "G bedoci Théry ab. obsoleta Blr." are too similar to the Microncsian forms to leave any serious doubt concerning their phylogenetic affinity. Indeed, all the four share a morphological feature that seems much more informative than elytral denticulation: their abdominal "plaque" is but vaguely delimited, not elevated, its surface touching that of the rest of the abdomen at a very obtuse angle, without apparent indentation (Fig. 2). Besides, all these species have the elytra neither "caudate" (i. e. their sides observed from above, and their upper line in profile, are not or very slightly concave) nor "truncate" (the side margin reaches the suture at decidedly acute angle) at the apex (Figs. 1-2), while otherwise in Cyphogastra Deyrolle the suturai angle is almost invariably right or very nearly so, the only exceptions being some species with strongly caudate elytra. Thus, I prefer to give Guamia Théry a broader in-