Styphlomerus fusciceps ( Schmidt-Göbel, 1846 )

Akhil, S. V. & Thomas, Sabu K., 2019, New Species of Bombardier Beetles of the Genus Styphlomerus Chaudoir, 1875 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from Southern India, with a Key to the Indomalayan and Palearctic Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 73 (2), pp. 465-471 : 469-470

Styphlomerus fusciceps ( Schmidt-Göbel, 1846) ( Fig. 1b )

Styphlomerus fusciceps Schmidt-Göbel 1846: 73 ; Boheman 1861: 3; Gemminger and Harold 1868: 105; Chaudoir 1876: 92; Bates 1892: 397; Andrewes 1923: 43, 1924a: 117, 1924b: 470, 1930: 321; Louwerens 1949: 53; Kirschenhofer 1994: 1042, 1996: 778; Hrdlička 2003: 218, 2017b: 471.

= Brachinus bicolor Boheman, 1861 .

= Brachinus dichrous Gemminger and Harold, 1868 .

= Styphlomerus brunneiventris Louwerens, 1949 .

= Brachinus vietnamensis Kirschenhofer, 1994 .

Specimens Examined. Type, male, labeled “ Burma ”, in NMPC . Other specimens examined: India: Kerala state: Tholpetty , 2 females, light attracted, 05.V.2017, coll. S. V. Akhil ; India: Tamil Nadu state: Virudhunagar district: Krishnan Kovil , 1 male, 1 female, light attracted, 15.X.2017, coll. S. V. Akhil.

Description TLA: 7.8–8.2 mm. Color: Head pitch black; labrum, mandibles, and epistome reddish brown; pronotum reddish brown; scape, scutellum, legs, and palpi pale reddish yellow; elytra black. Head: Longer than broad, shiny, vertex and neck rough with punctures, frons near epistome and medially to vertex sparsely punctate; mandibles stout, thick; labrum convex; eyes prominent; apical maxillary palpomere blunt, conical; antennae stout, not reaching middle of elytra, antennomeres cylindrical, pubescent, short. Pronotum: Broader than long, rough with punctures, sparsely pubescent, shiny; anterior margin sinuate, concave, posterior margin straight; anterior 2/3 of lateral margin convex, posterior third straight (divergent in type), hind corner at right angles; median furrow deep, reaching anterior and posterior margins; lateral ridge narrow. Scutellum: Pointed. Elytra: Subparallel, longer than broad, disc matt, finely punctate, pubescent with numerous short, yellow setae; humerus pronounced, rounded; apex obliquely truncate, depressed; striations weak, carinate, intervals wide, convex. Venter: Genae black, gula divergent, black with reddish yellow hue; prosternum reddish yellow; mesosternum and metasternum brownish yellow; mesepisternum, metepisternum, and mesepimeron pitch black; abdomen pointed, brownish black.

Measurements. Male: TLA = 7.88 mm, TLB = 6.94 mm, PL = 1.19 mm, PW = 1.47 mm; EL = 4.44 mm; TW = 3.08 mm; Female: TLA = 8.11– 9.01 mm, TLB = 6.25–7.60 mm, PL = 1.12–1.29 mm, PW = 1.46–1.61 mm, EL = 4.14–4.63 mm, TW = 2.95–3.30 mm.

Geographical Distribution. INDIA: Odisha state: Surada; Karnataka state: Mysore; Tamil Nadu state: Krishnan Kovil; Kerala state: Tholpetty. MYANMAR: Shwegu, Karen Hills, Tharrawaddy, Prome, Rangoon. MALAY PENINSULA. INDO- NESIA: Java. HONG KONG. MACAO. THAI- LAND. TAIWAN.

Remarks. A variant form ( Fig. 1c ) has the pronotum with the posterior third of lateral margins parallel, humerus straight, head more elongated, and distinctly protruding eyes.

Figures

Fig. 1. Styphlomerus species. a) S. ruficeps, type in MNHN, b) S. fusciceps, type in NMPC, c) S. fusciceps, variant form, d) S. devagiriensis, holotype, e) S. striatus, holotype, f–g) S. striatus, aedeagus, right and left lateral views, respectively.