Cantharis (Cantharis) dedicata, Švihla, 2005

Švihla, Vladimír, 2005, New taxa of the subfamily Cantharinae (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) from south-eastern Asia with notes on other species II, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 45, pp. 71-110 : 88-89

Cantharis (Cantharis) dedicata sp. nov.

( Figs. 35-37 )

Type locality. Laos, Hua Phan Province, Ban Saluei, Mt. Phu Phan, 20°13′N 103°95′E, 1300- 2000 m a.s.l.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, ‘ Laos: Hua Phan prov., Ban Saluei, Mt. Phu Phan , 20°13′N 103°95′E, 1300-2000 m, 6.-17.v.2004, F. & L. Kantner lgt.’ ( NMPC) . PARATYPES: same data, 2 JJ 6 ♀♀ ; same locality data, P. Kresl lgt., 1 ♀ ; same locality, 20°15′N 104°02′E, 1500- 2000 m, 26.iv.-11.v.2001, J. Bezděk lgt., 4 ♀♀ (all NMPC) .

Description. Coloration. Head black, mouthparts and areas in front of eyes sepia to sooty in male, entirely black with chestnut brown mouthparts in female. Antennae sooty, antennomeres 1 and 2 with rusty bases and under sides. Prothorax pale lemon yellow, pronotum with five sooty to black spots: one large, transverse, obtriangular spot with narrowly incised anterior margin and rounded posterior angle, and two pairs of obliquely situated, small, circular spots behind it. Meso- and metasternum and ventral part of abdomen sepia, abdominal sternites excluding last one narrowly yellow bordered. Legs and scutellum sepia to sooty, elytra glaucous bluish green.

Male. Eyes relatively large and strongly protruding, head across eyes as wide as pronotum, temples almost straight and convergent posteriorly. Antennae reaching two thirds of elytral length, filiform, antennomeres moderately flattened, antennomeres 4-10 each with small, longitudinal to oval, semilustrous impression. Surface of head finely and sparsely punctate and yellow pubescent, lustrous. Pronotum distinctly wider than long, its anterior margin widely rounded, anterior corners and lateral margins rounded, posterior corners obtusely rounded, posterior margin widely rounded. Surface of pronotum punctate and pubescent like that of head, lustrous. Elytra parallel-sided, elytral nervation not developed, surface of elytra finely and sparsely punctate and yellow pubescent, lustrous basally and roughly but shallowly rugulose-lacunose, yellow pubescent and semilustrous on the rest of elytra. Aedeagus as in Figs. 35 and 36 .

Female. Eyes smaller and less protruding than in male, head across eyes distinctly narrow- er than pronotum, temples rounded and convergent posteriorly. Antennae shorter, reaching elytral midlength. Pronotum ca 1.25 times as wide as long, elytra wider than in male. Apical portion of last abdominal sternite as in Fig. 37 , with a pair of shallow, lustrous, apical impressions on sides of central emargination.

Length J ♀: 10.8-12.4 mm.

Differential diagnosis. Cantharis (s. str.) dedicata sp. nov. belongs to C. (s. str.) quinquenotatithorax species group as defined by WITTMER (1989). In the key by WITTMER (1989) it falls between C. quinquenotatithorax Pic, 1914 from northern Vietnam and Yunnan, and C. kambaitiensis Wittmer, 1989 from north-eastern Myanmar. It differs from them in the presence of a ventro-lateral teeth on the dorsal part of the aedeagus; it is moreover distinguished from the former species by the shape of the apices of the laterophyses and from the latter species by the parameres not dilated before apex (cf. WITTMER 1989).

Etymology. Dedicatus (Latin) = dedicated, named in honour of all of its collectors, Jan Bezděk (Brno, Czech Republic), Liběna and František Kantner (České Budějovice, Czech Republic) and Petr Kresl (Spůle, Janovice nad Úhlavou, Czech Republic).

Distribution. Northern Laos.

Figures

Figs. 35-40. 35-37 – Cantharis (s. str.) dedicata sp. nov. 35 – aedeagus, ventral view; 36 – left laterophyse, oblique ventral view; 37 – last abdominal sternite of female. 38-40 – Athemus (Athemellus) bimaculicollis sp. nov. 38 – aedeagus, ventral view; 39 – ditto, lateral view; 40 – last abdominal sternite of female. Scales a – Figs. 35, 37-40; b – Fig. 36.