Pheropsophus lineifrons CHAUDOIR, 1850

Venugopal, Akhil S. & Thomas, Sabu K., 2019, Bombardier beetles of the genus Pheropsophus Solier 1833 (Carabidae: Brachininae: Brachinini) from Indian subcontinent, Zootaxa 4608 (1), pp. 65-89 : 75

Pheropsophus lineifrons CHAUDOIR, 1850

( Fig. 1 I )

Pheropsophus lineifrons Chaudoir, 1850: 80 ; 1876: 24; Bates, 1892a: 233; Arrow, 1901: 203; Andrewes, 1930: 273; Jedlička, 1963: 529; Hrdlička, 2017: 480; Ullah et al., 2017: 182 .

Specimen examined (n=2): Holotype, labelled “ Ind. Or. Chaud. lineifrons Chaud. ”, type in ZMHB

Other specimen examined: 1 ex., “Kutch, Gujarat, India, coll. B.Horne, det S.V.Akhil ”

Description. Length: 15.0–16.0 mm

Colour. Head and pronotum reddish brown; clypeus, labrum and anterior part of head reddish yellow; forehead with a brownish black patch between anterior impressions; elytra black with humeral spots and median band little darker yellow, reddish brown colour along the suture; apex of antennae and legs pale reddish yellow; first four antennal segments light coloured, segments 5–11 dark brownish coloured; eyes greyish; yellowish red with black spot on apex of the femur.

Head: Smaller, narrower; disc smooth over vertex, rough with wrinkles posteriorly; eyes protruding; antennal segment two very short; labrum convex.

Pronotum: Broad, anterior convexity covering 3/4 th of the disc, contracted posteriorly; scarcely punctuate; median furrow present; surface smooth.

Elytra: Elongated and narrow; subparallel laterally; humerus present but rounded; median band rounded with serrated edges; striations rounded, broad; apical band present but narrow.

Geographical distribution. INDIA: Assam: Tezpur ( Andrewes 1930); Bengal: Darjiling ( Chaudoir 1876); Bihar: Pusa, Chapra ( Andrewes 1930); Uttarpradesh: Allahabad, Mughalsarai ( Andrewes 1930); Uttarakhand: Lachhiwala ( Andrewes 1930); Himachal Pradesh: Simla ( Andrewes 1930); Chota Nagpur plateau ( Andrewes 1930); Gujrat: Kutch (New record); Maharashtra: Nagpur ( Andrewes 1930); BANGLADESH: Dhaka ( Chaudoir 1850); PAKISTAN: Islamabad. Khyber Pashtunkhwa. Punjab ( Ullah et al. 2017).

Remarks. Pheropsophus lineifrons is morphologically most similar to P. catoirei , but distinct from it in having a black patch over the anterior part of head, reddish brown elytral suture, more serrated elytral median transverse band, darker legs.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dorsal habitus of Pheropsophus from India – A) Pheropsophus andrewesi (Holotype, ‘India: Assam’, ZMHB), B) P. aptinoides (Holotype, ‘East Indies’, MNHN), C) P. bimaculatus (Holotype, ‘Ind.Or.’, LSUK), D) P. cardoni (Syntype, ‘Chota Nagpore, Nowatoli’, ZMHB), E) P. catoirei (Holotype, ‘Bengalia’, MNHN), F) P. chaudoiri (Holotype, ‘Nepal’, BMNH), G) P. consularis (Syntype, ‘Burma’, NMPC), H) P. javanus (Holotype, ‘Java’, MNHN), I) P. lineifrons (Holotype, ‘Ind.Or.’, ZMHB)