Ancistronycha Märkel, 1852

Kazantsev, Sergey, 2005, A Review of Ancistronycha Märkel with the Description of Atalantycha, a New Nearctic Genus (Coleoptera: Cantharidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 59 (2), pp. 204-210 : 204-206

Ancistronycha Märkel, 1852

Type species. Cantharis abdominalis Fabricius, 1798 .

Redescription. Head flat, finely punctured behind eyes, with inconspicuous impressions behind antennal insertions. Mandibles simple, externally slightly concave in the middle third. Distal maxillary palpomere about twice as long as wide, widest near apex. Clypeus weakly convex anteriorly, anterior margin with inconspicuous emargination medially. Antennae long, filiform, antennomere 2 about 2.5 times as short as antennomere 3, antennomeres 4–10 with minute glabrous groove near apices in males, median antennomeres unadorned in females. Primary antennal pubescence relatively short, decumbent, with additional robust longer hairs, more abundant on apices of antennomeres.

Pronotum transverse, with lateral margins rounded and anterior, lateral and posterior margins broadly deflexed. Scutellum widely triangular, with posterior margin finely punctured and rounded. Elytra coarsely rugose-punctate, with traces of 4 costae. Elytral pubescence simple, short and decumbent, with sparse more elongate erect hairs in humeral area. Caudal abdominal ventrite in females broadly triangular, posterior margin with inconspicuous median emargination. Legs long and slender, all tarsomeres bearing plantar pads; metatibial spurs similar; all claws simple in

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male and with conspicuous narrow basal tooth in females ( Fig. 1 ). Aedeagus with widely incised dorsal plate, large dorso-ventrally dilated laterophyses and apically bulging parameres ( Figs. 2–6 ).

Comments. Ancistronycha can be easily differentiated from other groups of Cantharini by the combination of the following characters: simple claws in males and conspicuously toothed claws in females ( Fig. 1 ), the rounded sides and deflexed margins of the pronotum, the minute median incision of the posterior margin of the caudal ventrite in females, the widely incised dorsal plate and the large dorso-ventrally dilated laterophyses of the aedeagus, with apically bulging apices of the parameres ( Figs. 2–6 ). Ancistronycha may be distinguished from other genera of West Palaearctic Cantharini using the key by Dahlgren (1979).

Ancistronycha consists of the following species:

1. Ancistronycha abdominalis (Fabricius) Cantharis abdominalis Fabricius, 1798: 67

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Figures

Figs. 1–6. Protarsal claw and aedeagi (without median lobe) of Ancistronycha. 1–2) A. abdominalis (Fabricius); 1) female, protarsal claw; 2) male, aedeagus, dorsal view; 3) A. erichsonii Bach, aedeagus, dorsal view; 4) A. lucens Moscardini, aedeagus, dorsal view; 5) A. occipitalis (Rosenhauer), aedeagus, dorsal view; 6) A. violacea (Paykull), aedeagus, dorsal view. Scale: 0.5 mm.