Baconia festiva Lewis, 1891

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013, A systematic revision of Baconia Lewis (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 343, pp. 1-297 : 31-32

Baconia festiva Lewis, 1891 Figs 5 C–DMap 1

Baconia festiva Lewis, 1891: 389.

Type locality.

BRAZIL: Bahia [exact locality uncertain].

Type material.

Lectotype, sex undetermined, here designated (BMNH): “Bahia” / "Bahia AG" / "Baconia festiva Lewis Type" / "LECTOTYPE Baconia festiva Lewis, M.S.Caterino & A.K.Tishechkin des. 2010". This species was described from an un specified number of specimens, and the lectotype designation fixes primary type status on the only known original specimen.

Diagnostic description.

Length: [not measured, ~2.5mm], width: [not measured, ~1.5mm]; body broadly elongate oval, strongly depressed, glabrous; head, pronotum and pygidia dully metallic greenish-blue, elytra slightly more blue in color, venter rufo-brunneus; frons rather flat, interocular margins weakly convergent dorsad, disk with numerous coarse punctures at middle, frontal stria present along inner margin of eye, curved across middle, interrupted for about half epistomal width; epistoma weakly emarginate apically; labrum about 3 ×wider than long, apex weakly arcuate; mandibles short; pronotal sides weakly, more or less evenly, curved to anterior corners, disk depressed along anterior fourth of lateral margin, marginal stria complete around lateral and anterior margins, submarginal stria absent, disk with coarse punctures at extreme sides separated by about twice their diameters; elytra with outer subhumeral stria absent, inner subhumeral stria present in about basal one-fifth and for short distance at middle, dorsal striae 1-4 complete, 5th stria present in apical half, sutural stria present as very short apical fragment, elytral disk with scattered secondary punctures in apical fourth; prosternal keel broad, weakly convex, base broadly, weakly produced, carinal striae complete, separate, diverging slightly to front; prosternal lobe about two-thirds keel length, apical margin bluntly rounded, marginal stria obsolete at sides; mesoventrite broadly, shallowly emarginate, marginal stria interrupted for width of emargination; mesometaventral stria arched strongly forward, weakly crenulate, narrowly detached at sides, inner lateral metaventral stria originating close to mesocoxa, extending obliquely posterolaterad toward posterior corner of metepisternum, abbreviated apically, outer lateral metaventral stria briefly indicated at base, metaventral and 1st abdominal disks impunctate at middle; abdominal ventrite 1 with single, complete lateral stria; protibia with four marginal denticles, the basalmost weak, outer margin serrulate between; mesotibia with single fine marginal spine; outer metatibial margin smooth; pygidia short and wide, propygidium with complete transverse basal stria, secondary punctures rather deep, separated by about their diameters or slightly more; pygidium with fine ground punctation and small, sparse secondary punctures more or less uniformly interspersed. Male genitalia: not known.

Remarks.

This species is very closely related to several that follow ( Baconia foliosoma , Baconia sapphirina , Baconia furtiva , Baconia pernix , and Baconia applanatis ). All are similar in size (~2.5mm), broad, roughly parallel-sided, strongly depressed, and have a basal transverse stria on the propygidium. Most of them are represented by very little material in collections. For example Baconia festiva is known only from the type specimen, which does not exactly match anything else studied. It is possible that discovery of more specimens would justify the synonymization of a few of these. However, at present they are distinguishable and mostly allopatric. Baconia festiva can be distinguished from the others by the combination of a complete 4th dorsal stria, 5th stria in the apical half of the elytra (Fig. 5C), rather coarse, sparse lateral pronotal punctation, and the generally arcuate mesometaventral stria (Fig. 5D).