Lachnodacnum saundersi Orchymont, 1937

Clarkson, Bruno, Albertoni, Fabiano Fabian & FIKÁýEK, Martin, 2014, Taxonomy and biology of the bromeliad-inhabiting genus Lachnodacnum (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Sphaeridiinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (1), pp. 157-194 : 181-182

Lachnodacnum saundersi Orchymont, 1937

(Figs 9í10, 16, 34, 36, 75)

Lachnodacnum saundersi Orchymont, 1937: 138 .

Type locality. Brazil, Pernambuco.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: unsexed specimen ( BMNH):“ Type [rounded label with red margin] // TYPE // from terrestrial brom- / eliad / BRAZIL:/ Pernambuco / 14.ix.1923 // L. G. Saunders. / B. M.1936-646 // Pernambuco / 14.ix.23 / terrest. brom // A. d’Orchymont det. / Lachnodacnum / saundersi m.” . PARATYPES: 1 male (specimen with missing prothorax and head, BMNH): “Para- / type [rounded label with yellow border] // Para- / type”, further labels same as in holotype ; 1 spec. (teneral specimen, BMNH): “Para- / type [rounded label with yellow border] // Para- / type // terrestrial bromeliad / BRAZIL:/ Pernambuco / 14.ix.1923 / L. G. Saunders / B. M. 1936-646 // P’buco, Brazil / 14.ix.1923 / L.G. Saunders / terrest bromelias // A. d’Orchymont det. / Lachnodacnum / saundersi m.”

Non-type material examined (1). BRAZIL: PERNAMBUCO STATE: 1 spec. ( IRSNB): “Dois irmãos, 28.iv.1935, Bromelicola, O. Schubart”.

Redescription. Body length 6.1–6.7 mm (holotype 6.7 mm), body width 4.1í 4.5 mm (holotype 4.5 mm). Entirely black in dorsal and ventral views; maxillary and labial palps dark brown; antennae pale brown. Legs dark brown.

Head. Clypeus and frons ¿nely punctuate, the punctures are about a third the width of one ommatidium, interstices of whole clypeus with reticulate microsculpture consisting of ¿ne scattered ridges. Labrum about 0.5× as wide as maximum width of head. Maxillary palpomere 1 minute, palpomeres 2 longer than palpomere 4, palpomere 3 shorter than 4; palpomere 2 slightly widened distally; palpomere 3 narrower than distal portion of palpomere 2, slightly curved inwards and widened distally; palpomere 4 narrowest. Antennal scape about as long as pedicel and antennomeres 2í6 combined.

Prothorax. Lateral portions of pronotum bearing distinct reticulate microsculpture, median portion of pronotum with indistinct microsculpture only.

Mesothorax. Preepisternal plate very produced laterally, spade-shaped, bare, anterior portion conspicuously more elevate than the median longitudinal posterior portion; medi- an longitudinal portion broad, bearing sparse long setae in ventral view, widely attaching metaventral process. Lateral margin of elytron distinctly explanate along its length (Fig. 9). Outer bare portion of epipleuron (= ‘pseudepipleuron’) about 0.3× as wide as inner pubescent portion (= ‘epipleuron’) in basal third, about 0.7× as wide as inner pubescent portion in distal two-thirds.

Male genitalia. Aedeagus 1.05 mm long (Fig. 16). Phallobase ca. 0.5× as long as parameres, symmetrical, with only indistinctly de¿ned basal manubrium. Paramere wide throughout, slightly situate on lateral margin, apical portion not much pronouncing and rather wide. Median lobe slightly shorter than parameres, narrowing apicad, slightly constricted in apical third; basal portion at most with a shallow and rather indistinct emargination medially; gonopore distinct, subapical.

Biology. The type specimens were collected from a terrestrial bromeliad.

Distribution. Only known from two closely situated localities in northern Brazil (Pernambuco state).