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Issue: Vol. 5706 No. 1: 9 Oct. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-10-09
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5706.1.5
Page range: 79-92
Abstract views: 295
PDF downloaded: 121

Taxonomic study of the flower chafer genus Gametis Burmeister, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) in Japan, with a description of a new species from Tarama-jima Island and Minna-jima Island, the Miyako Islands, southwestern Japan

Systematic Zoology Laboratory; Department of Biological Sciences; Graduate School of Science; Tokyo Metropolitan University; Minami-osawa 1–1 Hachioji-shi; Tokyo; 192–0397 Japan
Systematic Zoology Laboratory; Department of Biological Sciences; Graduate School of Science; Tokyo Metropolitan University; Minami-osawa 1–1 Hachioji-shi; Tokyo; 192–0397 Japan; Ehime University Museum; Bunkyo 3; Matsuyama-shi; Ehime; 790–8577 Japan
Coleoptera Cetoniini cryptic species molecular phylogeny taxonomy the Ryukyus

Abstract

A new species of the flower chafer genus Gametis Burmeister, 1842, Gametis polita Seshima & Yoshida, sp. nov., is described from Tarama-jima Island and Minna-jima Island in the Miyako Islands, southwestern Japan, which was formerly misidentified as Gametis forticula (Janson, 1881). This is the first new species of the subfamily Cetoniinae sensu stricto described from Japan in approximately half a century. Using molecular and morphological evidence, we conclude that the genus Gametis comprises three species in Japan: G. forticula (Janson, 1881), G. polita sp. nov., and G. ishigakiana (Nomura, 1959), which was formerly treated as a subspecies of G. forticula. In addition, G. forticula miyakoana (Nomura, 1959) and G. forticula yonakuniana (Nomura, 1959) are transferred to subspecific status under G. ishigakiana.

 

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How to Cite

Seshima, Y. & Yoshida, T. (2025) Taxonomic study of the flower chafer genus Gametis Burmeister, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) in Japan, with a description of a new species from Tarama-jima Island and Minna-jima Island, the Miyako Islands, southwestern Japan. Zootaxa, 5706 (1), 79–92. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5706.1.5