O. Merkl szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 69. (Budapest, 2008)

ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK Volume 69 2008 pp. 179-184. Description of three wingless species of Rismethus Fleutiaux, 1947 (Coleoptera, Elateridae: Agrypnini) from Western Malaysia G. PLATIA ViaMolino Vecchio, 21,1-47043 Gatteo (FC), Italy. E-mail: pinoplatia-@tele2.it Abstract - Rismethus catei sp. n., R insolitus sp. n. and R. merkli sp. n. from Western Malaysia (Pulau Tioman and Pulau Jasin ) are described. Key words - Elateridae, Rismethus, Malaysia, new species. INTRODUCTION In the material of Southeast Asian click beetles sent for study by OTTÓ MERKL of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, two new species of the genus Rismethus FLEUTIAUX, 1947 were discovered. The systematic position of the genus in the tribe Agrypnini CANDÈZE, 1857 was discussed by HAYEK (1973,1979), and 17 species were included in it. Recently, another species was described from Japan (ÔHIRA 1999) and still another from Somalia (CHASSAIN 2001). The great majority of the known species occur in Asia, from Nepal to Malaysia and Indonesia; one species is known from Madagascar and two from North and Central America. Within the tribe Agrypnini, the genus is distinguished by two characteristic features: the pronotum is constricted immediately behind the anterior angles, and its lateral carina is abbreviated, not reaching the anterior margin. The species can be winged, or the wings are reduced to flaps or totally absent, as in Rismethus ryukyuensis ÔHIRA, 1999 from Japan and in the three new species described below from the small Malaysian islands of Tioman and Jasin. The shape of pronotum and the very short elytra give a particular appearance to one of the new species, immediately recognizable and justifiably named Rismethus insolitus sp. n.