Revision of the Taumacera cervicornis Species Group (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae) from Sri Lanka^†

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Only minor errors, please check the following lines with suggestions:

33   very?

42   the present?

64   Scientific names italic or different from the rest of the text

 92   If 1 is opposed to number 2, how is different 1. Elytra metallic (1) FROM 2.  

       Elytra metallic green or blue-green, rarely with brownish elytral disc. … 3

183  paddle- shaped ?

238  abdomina?

256  Italics?

318  confused (word choice)

350  space needed and/or new paragraph?

382  spots (color?) =384

394  in middle (at?)

411 What means bordered  and unbordered (?)

414  at middle (?)

435  in ca apical third. What means “ca”

445  Scientific names with italics throughout the m

594  I hope these captions will be in the same page as their figures

598   …. confused is used here again. Not sure what is the meaning: probably 

       mixed?

650   Extreme means anterior or apical?

 719   Apically bent ?

 720   Shrivelled ? shriveled you mean wrinkle?

Author Response

33   very?

JB: the sentence is modified to „very likely“

 

42   the present?

JB: corrected

 

64   Scientific names italic or different from the rest of the text

JB: there is a heading on line 64, the style of subsection follows the template, in my opinion it is correct

 

 92   If 1 is opposed to number 2, how is different 1. Elytra metallic (1) FROM 2.  

       Elytra metallic green or blue-green, rarely with brownish elytral disc. … 3

JB: I cannot agree, the key is correct. Number 1 is not opposite to number 2.

 

183  paddle- shaped ?

JB: paddle-shaped is correct, the space is deleted

 

238  abdomina?

JB: abdomina is correct. Abdomen is singular, abdomina in plural

 

256  Italics?

JB: corrected

 

318  confused (word choice)

JB: „confused“ is word widely used to describe the chaotic punctation on elytra, without any arrangement

 

350  space needed and/or new paragraph?

JB: corrected

 

382  spots (color?) =384

JB: corrected to „black spots“

 

394  in middle (at?)

JB: „in middle“ is correct

 

411 What means bordered  and unbordered (?)

JB: margins of pronotum can be with or without beading, in Chrysomelidae „bordered  and unbordered“ are frequently used to describe this character

 

414  at middle (?)

JB: „in middle“ is correct

 

435  in ca apical third. What means “ca”

JB: „ca“ deleted

 

445  Scientific names with italics throughout the m

JB: corrected

 

594  I hope these captions will be in the same page as their figures

598   …. confused is used here again. Not sure what is the meaning: probably 

       mixed?

JB: „confused“ is word widely used to describe the chaotic punctation on elytra, without any arrangement

 

650   Extreme means anterior or apical?

JB: corrected

 

 719   Apically bent ?

JB: I treat „apical part moderately bent“ as correct

 

 720   Shrivelled ? shriveled you mean wrinkle?

JB: No, basal part of aedeagus is very poorly sclerotized and creased, I treat the word „shrivelled“ as correct

Reviewer 2 Report

The author considers a group of species, not a subgenus. Maybe it should be added to the discussion: why does the author not want to establish an endemic subgenus? For T. lewisii, 2 females were studied, which means that it is necessary to write "females", not "female" on line 281 and indicate the limits of variability. For T. mirabilis, 2 males were studied, which means that "males", not "male" must be indicated on line 379. For T. unicolor, 2 males were studied, which means that "males", not "male" must be indicated on line 456.

Author Response

The reviewer is right that some comment why the species group is used instead subgenus is welcomed. I added the explanatory text to the Discussion.

Concerning „male/males“ and „female/females“ - problem is that I did not measure the type specimens during my visit of London museum in 2017. So, yes, I studied 2 females of T. lewisi, but only one was measured. Same trouble for T. mirabilis and T. unicolor. I suggest to leave the text as it is.

Reviewer 3 Report

The present manuscript is devoted to a review of a chrysomelid species-group from Sri Lanka. The manuscript is well-prepared and interesting to read. Some minor inconsequence has been found as mentioned in the text. English is sometimes suboptimal and requires proof-reading by native English speaker. I highlighted some (but no all!) problems with the language in the text. Apart of this, there are some layout-connected issues as is marked in the text.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

The English is improved now by native speaker through the professional company.

The problem with layout-connected issues – my original submission was correct, the problems arose somewhere later. However, because there are many changes in the text, I suggest to correct the placement of Figures and captions as final step just when the text changes approved (and thus without track-changes).

The reviewer marked some suggestions directly in pdf file, almost all I accepted and incorporated into final file.