Brachiacantha sellata Mulsant

Gordon, Robert D., Canepari, Claudio & Hanley, Guy A., 2014, South American Coccinellidae (Coleoptera), Part XVI: systematic revision of Brachiacantha Dejean (Coccinellinae: Hyperaspidini), Insecta Mundi 2014 (390), pp. 1-76 : 13-14

4. Brachiacantha sellata Mulsant

Brachyacantha sellata Mulsant, 1850: 522 ; Crotch 1874: 210; Leng 1911: 203; Korschefsky 1931: 207; Blackwelder 1945: 449.

Brachiacantha sellata: Milléo and Almeidae 2007: 420.

Description. Male. Length 5.0 mm, width 4.0 mm; body oval, convex. Dorsal surface with head alutaceous, feebly shiny, pronotum faintly alutaceous, shiny, elytron smooth, shiny. Color yellow except pronotum with mediobasal black macula short, wide, apex of macula deeply, broadly emarginate with yellow medially; elytron with scutellum, sutural, apical and lateral margins narrowly bordered with black, with 3 large black spots, median discal spot on sutural border, humeral spot irregularly oval, apical spot irregularly rounded ( Fig. 18 ); ventral surface with head, prosternum, meso- and metaventrites, abdomen black, legs 1, 2 with outer 1/2 of tibia dark brown, leg 3 entirely dark brown. Head punctures small, separated by a diameter or less, each puncture as large as an eye facet; pronotal punctures slightly larger than head punctures, separated by less than to 3 times a diameter, elytral punctures as large as on pronotum, separated by 1 to 2 times a diameter; metaventral punctures larger than on elytron, separated by a diameter or less. Clypeus weakly emarginate apically, lateral angle rounded, surface with sparse, long pubescence. Eye canthus about 6 eye facets long, slightly angled forward, apically acute, yellow. Pronotum narrowed from base to apex, basal and anterior angles abrupt, lateral margin weakly rounded, basal margin without trace of bordering line medially. Epipleuron narrow, slightly grooved, deeply emarginate for reception of femoral apices. Protibia narrowly flanged, flange narrower than remainder of protibia, outer margin nearly straight, smooth, basal tooth large, about 1/2 width of tibia at base, sponda slightly extended beyond protibial flange. Carinae on prosternal process widely separated at apex, parallel toward base, not joined, ended at basal 1/3 of prosternum. Metaventrite without setal tuft. Basal abdominal ventrite without setal tuft. Abdomen with postcoxal line on basal abdominal ventrite slightly flattened along posterior ventrite margin, extended forward at apex, ventrite with sparse, long pubescence and small, dense punctures; ventrites 2–6 pubescent throughout, punctures fine, dense; ventrite 3 without cusp on each side of middle; 5th ventrite deeply depressed in median 1/3, apex broadly emarginate; 6th ventrite depressed medially, apex deeply emarginate. Apical tergite finely, densely punctured, apex truncate. Genitalia with basal lobe longer than paramere, symmetrical, sides parallel in basal 2/3, narrowed in apical 1/3, apex lunulate; paramere short, wide basally, narrowed in apical 1/2, apical 1/2 flattened dorsally with setae rising from flattened area, apex rounded, slightly Psc ( Fig. 19, 20 ); sipho robust, strongly curved in basal 1/2, with large lateral alae posterior to apex, basal capsule heavily sclerotized, inner arm short, triangular, apex rounded, outer arm wider and longer than inner arm, with accessory piece, basal border broadly, shallowly emarginate ( Fig. 21, 22 ).

Female. Similar to male except head black, pronotum black except lateral 1/8 yellow, anterolateral angle of black area slightly emarginate with yellow, scutellum black, all legs except tarsi black. Genitalia with spermathecal capsule short, wide, cornu with short apical beak; bursal cap oval, with outer arms not sclerotized, inner arm short, slender, without apparent apical strut ( Fig. 23 ).

Variation. Length 4.2 to 5.0 mm, width 3.5 to 4.0 mm.

Type locality. Brazil.

Type depository. MNHL (lectotype designated by Milléo and Almeida 2007).

Geographical distribution. Brazil.

Specimens examined. 26. Brazil. Bahia; Chapada; Espirito Santo; Mato Grosso; Rio Grande; Guanabara; Rio de Janeiro; Sao Paulo; SP (Sao Paulo); Tabatinga. ( BMNH) ( CASC) ( CMNH) ( DEI) ( MNHL) ( DZUP) ( USNM) ( ZMHB).

Remarks. Brachiacantha sellata is closely similar in external appearance only to B. bruchi , see comparative remarks under that species. Primarily a Brazilian species, this large taxon is highly distinctive based on size and dorsal coloration. It and B. bruchi do not resemble other species in the sellata group because of those characters.

The lectotype designated by Milléo and Almeida (2007) is a type specimen in the BMNH labeled “ SYNTYPE (blue bordered disc)/5771 (blue disc, handwritten)/Sellata.Dej. Bresil (green label, handwritten)/ Named by Mulsant.” Other type specimens designated as paralectotypes are a male in the Dejean collection labeled “5-maculata Buquet/ Bresil.,” one specimen of B. sellata in the DEI is labeled “ Paratypus,”? It bears the labels “ Brasil Schaum (handwritten)/Coll. Haag/ Paratypus (red paper)/ sellata Typ Mls. (handwritten)/coll. DEI Müncheberg.” Why the paratypus label is uncertain, but Mulsant (1850) had specimens from several sources, specifically stating that the type was in the “Dejean” collection, so the DEI specimen from the Germar and Schaum collection is labeled as a paralectotype.

Figures

Figures 18–35. 18–23. Brachiacantha sellata. 18) Habitus. 19) Phallobase ventral. 20) Phallobase lateral. 21) Sipho. 22) Enlarged siphonal apex. 23) Female genitalia. 24–30. Brachiacantha bruchi. 24) Habitus. 25) Phallobase ventral. 26) Phallobase lateral. 27) Sipho. 28) Enlarged siphonal apex lateral. 29) Enlarged siphonal apex dorsal. 30) Female genitalia. 31–35. Brachiacantha esther. 31) Habitus. 32) Phallobase ventral. 33) Phallobase lateral. 34) Sipho. 35) Enlarged siphonal apex.