Paracercion continued

We now have had several posts on (Para)cercion malayanum en P. melanotum. Originally I was under the assumption that the species at Van Long, with females similar to P. malayanum in Thailand, was P. malayanum. This is also how Sebastien published it on his blog. Subsequent comparison of the appendages with males from Huu Lien made it look conveniently different, if closely related. I then found a typical P. melanotum female at Huu Lien. Put this together, then we have a different species at Van Long, similar to P. malayanum. However, the two males I collected the other day in posterior view are rather different from my first specimen from Van Long and in fact are very similar to P. melanotum. What is more, Rory Dow was kind enough to send me photos of posterior view of P. malayanum from Java. It looks suspiciously similar (to both the new specimens from Van Long and to that of Huu Lien.

It makes one wonder whether P. malayanum and P. melanotum are truly different. The photos from Thailand show males with wider blue stripes on the thorax (antehumeral), otherwise look very similar. The side view of specimens from Huu Lien and Van Long again is almost the same and goes well with the Java specimen. The females are rather different, but I have a female from Van Long with in fact a set of antehumeral black lines not unlike P. melanotum. Anyway, until I have close-ups of the prothorax of the females at Van Long (next year), we do not know if they are structurally different or similar to P. melanotum. For the time being I will consider the Van Long species as P. cf melanotum and the Huu Lien one as P. melanotum. P. malayanum may or may not occur in Vietnam, but I have difficulty proving it.

Here is the Huu Lien posterior view once more. With it is the new Van Long posterior view. If Rory will give permission, maybe I can add the Java photos too.

Huu Lien P. melanotum

Van Long new specimen Paracercion sp.