Pheropsophus catoirei (Dejean, 1825)

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 : 70-71

Pheropsophus catoirei ( DEJEAN, 1825)

( Fig. 1 E )

Brachinus catoirei Dejean, 1825: 301 ; Putzeys, 1875: 45; Bates, 1891a: 10 (suppl.); 1892b: 391; Arrow, 1901: 202; Andrewes, 1924a: 55; 1930: 271; Mani, 1955: 486; Jedlička, 1963: 529; Saha and Halder, 2000: 34; Hrdlička, 2017: 479; Ullah et al., 2017: 179.

Specimens examined (n=1): Holotype (by monotypy), labelled “ catoirei . in Bengalia, G.J. Arrow vidit 1901, ‘ Ex. Musaeo Chaudoir’ ”; type in MNHN

Description. Length: 10.0–18.0 mm; TW: 6.8 mm

Colour: Head, pronotum, reddish brown without spots; elytra black; apex of antennae and legs pale red; eyes greyish; legs with coxa, trochanter, tibia and femur light reddish yellow; apex of the femur dark brown; 1 st tarsomere reddish yellow in middle with dark reddish brown margins; rest dark reddish brown; claws brownish black; venter brownish black with underside of head reddish yellow including the mouth parts and palpi; prosternum brownish black with a reddish yellow patch in the middle; metasternum brownish black.

Head: Small, narrow

Pronotum: Convex, broader anteriorly, narrowed posteriorly; apical and basal margins straight; lateral bead faint; disc scarcely punctuate; deep median furrow.

Elytra: Elongated, narrow; subparallel; median transverse bands narrow, with few serrations along edges; apex wider with narrow yellow apical band extending anteriorly along the striations.

Venter: Abdomen pubescent, covered with brownish yellow hairs.

Geographical distribution. INDIA: Bengal ( Dejean 1825); Arunachal Pradesh ( Hrdlička 2017); Sikkim ( Hrdlička 2017); Meghalaya: Garo ( Saha and Halder 2000); Assam; Himachal Pradesh: Bajaura (Kangra distr.) (An- drewes 1924a). Kulu (Naggar and Mandi). Nalagar. Spiti (Gharry) ( Andrewes 1924a); Uttar Pradesh: Dahora ( Andrewes 1924a); Kashmir: Balta ( Andrewes 1930); Andaman Is ( Andrewes 1924a); BANGLADESH: Dhaka ( Arrow 1901); IRAN ( Hrdlička 2017); AFGHANISTAN ( Hrdlička 2017); PAKISTAN: Sind and the Khyber Pass ( Ullah et al. 2017); SRI LANKA ( Andrewes 1930); MYANMAR ( Andrewes 1930); NEPAL ( Hrdlička 2017); BHUTAN ( Hrdlička 2017).

Remarks. Morphologically similar to P. hilaris . Differs by elongated body; absence of spots on pronotum and presence of larger elytral humeral spots.

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)