Murmidius hebrus Hinton

Jałoszyński, Paweł & Ślipiński, Adam, 2022, Revision of the family Murmidiidae (Coleoptera: Coccinelloidea), Zootaxa 5109 (1), pp. 1-102 : 64-66

Murmidius hebrus Hinton

( Figs 191–197 )

Murmidius hebrus Hinton, 1942: 42 .

Type material examined. Holotype ( Zambia) : Holotype: sex unknown, “ N. Rhodesia / Congo-Zambesi Water- shed / 1928, Dr H.S. Evans ”, “ Murmidius / hebrus / Hinton / Type” ( BMNH) .

Additional material studied. Republic of South Africa: 1 ♀ and 1 ex. of unknown sex, Natal , Spioenkopdam , WSW Ladysmith, under bark of standing dead Acacia sieberana, 16.11.1985, leg. J. T . Doyen ( CAS) . Ivory Coast: 1 ex., Man , 3 km O Sangouiné, 10.03.1977, I. Löbl ( MHNG) . Cameroon: 1 ex, Marouna, G. Schmitz , 10/11.1965, light trap ( MRAC) . DR Congo: ♂, “ 18 m SW of Elizabethville ”, 28.10.1927, leg. H.S. Evans ( BMNH) .

Emended diagnosis. Body elongate oval and weakly convex, moderately light brown to dark, nearly black; antennal club only slightly elongate; anterior clypeal margin smooth; pronotum lacking lateral and sublateral longitudinal impressions; clypeus with distinct but only semi-matt microreticulation, reticulation on frons and vertex superficial and fine but distinct, on pronotum less distinct than that on vertex, elytra glossy and smooth; elytra with fine but distinct and very dense punctures not arranged in rows; prosternal carinae not exceeding 1/3 of prosternum; mesoventral plate with evenly rounded anterior margin, with distinct anterior submarginal carina but lacking lateral carinae; elytral epipleura not strongly narrowed at the level of metaventrite where they are nearly as wide as width of mesofemur; metaventrite with large, circular, unevenly distributed punctures on sides; penis conspicuously stout, in lateral view strongly curved but apex not hook-like; in ventral view penis strongly narrowing in distal half toward rounded apex; tegmen stout, with deep median apical notch, apex bearing 2 pairs of conspicuously long, straight setae, additionally each lateral subapical margin with 5–7 long and curved setae.

Redescription. BL 1.38–1.55 mm; BL/EW 1.54–1.68. Body elongate oval ( Figs 191–193 ) and in lateral view weakly convex ( Fig. 194 ); pigmentation moderately light brown to dark, nearly black; dorsum covered with short whitish setae (discernible under magnification 80 ×); cuticle glossy, on clypeus weakly microreticulate and semimatt, reticulation on frons, vertex and pronotum weaker, on elytra indiscernible.

Head 0.35–0.38 mm wide; frons and vertex weakly convex, with fine, inconspicuous punctures; clypeus semimatt; eyes large, strongly convex, coarsely faceted. Antennal club only slightly elongate.

Pronotum ( Figs 191–192 ) strongly transverse, widest at base; PL 0.30–0.35 mm, PW 0.65–0.70 mm, PL/PW 0.44–0.50; lateral margins weakly rounded and moderately strongly convergent anterad, with narrow but distinct lateral carinae; mesal corners of antennal cavities weakly projecting anterad; lateral and sublateral longitudinal impressions lacking; anterior pronotal margin lacking marginal line. Punctures on disc uniform and fine, inconspicuous.

Prosternum ( Fig. 193 ) with barely discernible transverse microreticulation and with fine, inconspicuous setiferous punctures; prosternal carinae conspicuously short, not exceeding 1/3 of prosternum and straight; notosternal carinae nearly straight and not reaching anterior prosternal margin, the latter with barely discernible marginal carina or lacking carina.

Elytra ( Figs 191–192 ) together oval, with strongly rounded sides, broadest indistinctly in front of middle, EL 0.95–1.08 mm, EW 0.85–0.93 mm, EL/EW 1.08–1.16. Humerus with distinct callus; elytra very densely punctate, punctures small but distinct, not arranged in rows, those on anteromedian region of each elytron separated by spaces subequal to their diameters, punctures slightly reducing in depth toward sides and apices. Epipleura not narrowed near middle, with convex margins.

Hind wings fully developed.

Mesoventral plate ( Fig. 195 ) lacking lateral longitudinal carinae, with distinct and complete anterior submarginal carina; anterior margin evenly, broadly rounded.

Metaventrite ( Fig. 195 ) with large, circular and distinct punctures unevenly distributed on sides; median region with fine, inconspicuous setiferous punctures. Discrimen externally poorly marked or indiscernible.

Tarsi with short, inconspicuous setae on tarsomeres 1–3.

Aedeagus ( Figs 196–197 ) 0.50 mm long, stout; penis in ventral view parallel-sided in proximal half and strongly narrowing in distal half toward broadly rounded apex, in lateral view strongly curved; tegmen stout, nearly as long as penis, with subtriangular apex bearing deep median notch; 2 pairs of conspicuously long and straight setae are inserted on apex, additionally each lateral margin of tegmen bears a longitudinal row of 5–7 long and curved setae.

Distribution. Afrotropical: Cameroon, DR Congo, Ivory Coast, RSA, Zambia.

Remarks. Murmidius hebrus is distinct within the convexus group by a combination of the pronotum lacking anterolateral groups of larger punctures, extremely short prosternal carinae, a complete and distinct anterior submarginal carina of the mesoventral plate, lack of lateral carinae of the mesoventral plate, and the unique, large aedeagus. This species seems to show only a small variability, mainly visible in the body length and pigmentation.

Figures

FIGURES 191–197. Morphological structures of Murmidius hebrus Hinton. Body in dorsal (191–192), ventral (193) and lateral (194) views; pterothorax in ventral view (195); and aedeagus (196–197).