Baconia wallacea, Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013, A systematic revision of Baconia Lewis (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 343, pp. 1-297 : 179-182

Baconia wallacea sp. n. Figs 50 A–BMap 15

Type locality.

INDONESIA: Sulawesi Utara: Dumoga-Bone National Park [exact locality uncertain].

Type material.

Holotype female: "INDONESIA: Sulawesi Utara, Dumoga-BoneNP, Plot A, lowland forest, Oct. 1985, FIT, ca. 200m" / "R.Ent.Soc.Lond. PROJECT WALLACE, B.M. 1985-10" / "Caterino/Tishechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-02560" (BMNH). Paratype (1): same locality as holotype, 400 m, iii.1985, FIT (BMNH).

Other material.

MALAYSIA: Sabah: Sipitang, Mendolong, 11.v.1988, S. Adebratt (MNHG).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.8-1.9mm, width: 1.3-1.4mm; body elongate oval, weakly convex, glabrous; color rufobrunneus; head with frons flat, wide, ground punctation fine, secondary punctures sparse with coarser punctures dorsad, frontal stria present only along inner margin of eye, obsolete across middle, supraorbital stria present; antennal scape short, club nearly circular; epistoma straight to faintly emarginate apically; labrum about 4 ×wider than long, weakly emarginate apically; both mandibles with strong, acute basal tooth; pronotum with sides weakly convergent, rounded to apex, lateral marginal stria descending to ventral edge in posterior half, continuous anteriorly with complete anterior marginal stria, lateral submarginal stria present in basal four-fifths, pronotal disk weakly depressed in anterolateral corners, with fine ground punctation, conspicuous secondary punctures interspersed at sides, becoming larger (though very shallow) toward prescutellar area; elytra with two com plete epipleural striae, outer subhumeral stria absent, inner present in basal one-fifth or less, dorsal striae 1-4 complete to base, vaguely abbreviated apically, 4th stria arched to sutural in front, recurved slightly posterad along extreme anterior part of suture, stria 5 slightly abbreviated at base and apex, curving inward at front, sutural stria present in middle one-half, abbreviated at base and apex, elytral disk with scattered secondary punctures in apical one-fourth; prosternum moderately broad, keel weakly emarginate at base, with carinal striae complete, subparallel; prosternal lobe about two-thirds keel length, apical margin bluntly rounded, with marginal stria present only at middle; mesoventrite weakly produced at middle, with marginal stria complete; mesometaventral stria transverse, continuous laterally with inner lateral metaventral stria which extends straight posterad to inner corner of metacoxa, recurved mediad at apex, outer lateral metaventral stria present, parallel to inner stria, complete; metaventral disk coarsely punctate at sides, impunctate at middle; abdominal ventrite 1 with single, abbreviated lateral stria, small fragment of outer stria may be present, disk with few coarse secondary punctures along anterior margin, ventrites 2-5 with sparse punctures at sides, impunctate at middle; protibia tridentate, the middle tooth weak, closer to apical than basal, outer margin serrulate between teeth; mesotibia with two very weak marginal spines; outer metatibial margin smooth, edentate; propygidium lacking basal stria, with sparse, fine ground punctation, with moderately coarser secondary punctures evenly interspersed, propygidial gland openings narrow, obliquely elongate, located about one-third behind anterior margin, about one-fourth width from each lateral margin; pygidium with sparse ground punctation and slightly coarser, secondary punctation. Male: not known.

Remarks.

This species can be distinguished from the others in the Asian group by its shortened, separate prosternal striae (Fig. 50B), the presence of two complete lateral metaventral striae which are curved mediad apically, and by the pattern of pronotal punctation in which a median band of the pronotal disk is impunctate, but large, shallow prescutellar punctures are present on each side (Fig. 50A). The single specimen from Sabah, Malaysia has a more thoroughly punctate pronotum, and differs slightly in ventral striation, with the inner metaventral stria less distinctly curved inward at the apex, and we therefore exclude it from the type series.

Etymology.

This species name refers to both the region of Wallacea and to the Natural History Museum’s 1985 Project Wallace expedition, which produced so many interesting Histeridae .