Brachinus (Neobrachinus) pallidipes Reitter, 1919

Akhil, S. V., Divya, M. & Sabu, K. Thomas, 2020, Bombardier beetles of genus Brachinus Weber, 1801 (Carabidae: Brachininae Brachinini) from India, Zootaxa 4816 (4), pp. 576-600 : 586-587

Brachinus (Neobrachinus) pallidipes Reitter, 1919

= Brachinus stenoderus Andrewes, 1924 (non Bates)

Brachinus pallidipes Reitter,1919: 137 ; Andrewes, 1930a: 51; Hrdlička, 2003: 216; 2017: 478; Ullah et al. . 2017: 178. Brachinus stenoderus Andrewes 1924a: 57 ; 1928: 589

Type locality. India: Himachal Pradesh: Poo, coll. Fleischer.

Type depository. Type in collection of A. Fleischer ( Andrewes 1928)

Description. Length 11.0 mm. First four segments of antennae, palpi and legs pale yellow; antennal segments

5–11, head and pronotum yellowish red; scutellum brownish red; elytra bluish black; eyes black.

Head narrow, longer than broad; surface smooth, glabrous; eyes large; last segment of palpi narrowed and sub-truncate at apex; antennae long, slender, reaching beyond the middle of elytra, with segment three the longest, segment 3 longer than segments 1 and 2 combined, segment 2 shortest.

Pronotum narrow, longer than broad, glabrous, wrinkled; disc laterally convex with anterior half rounded and posterior half divergent; lateral bead present, having a darker brownish black shade; hind angles sharp, projecting laterally; median groove fine, shallow medially, deep towards base and apex.

Elytra broad, slightly rounded, widest just before apex, apex and base narrow, apex rounded, without re-entrant angle; humerus straight, rounded at corners; striations weak, broad, rounded, striae 1 to 6 (counting suture as 1) clear, well impressed, intervals narrow; surface rough, wrinkled, highly pubescent.

Distribution. INDIA: Jammu & Kashmir: Gurais valley; Himachal Pradesh: Pooh, Bashahr, Kangra; Uttarakhand: Almora, Dehra Dun, Tanakpur, River Sarda gorge. PAKISTAN: Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Remarks. Brachinus pallidipes was misidentified by Andrewes (1924a) as B. stenoderus Bates, 1873 , an entirely different species with a Japanese distribution ( Andrewes 1928). The species with a Himalayan distribution is B. pallidipes .