Baconia loricata Lewis, 1885

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013, A systematic revision of Baconia Lewis (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 343, pp. 1-297 : 24-25

Baconia loricata Lewis, 1885 Fig. 3AMap 1

Baconia loricata Lewis, 1885: 463.

Type locality.

BRAZIL: Santa Catarina: Blumenau [26.9°S, 49.0°W].

Type material.

Lectotype, of undetermined sex, here designated (BMNH): "Blumenau. Amer. mer." / "Baconia loricata Lewis Type" / "George Lewis Coll. B.M.1926-369" / "LECTOTYPE Baconia loricata Lewis, M.S.Caterino & A.K.Tishechkin des. 2010". This species was described from an unspecified number of specimens, and the lectotype designation fixes primary type status on the only known specimen.

Diagnostic description.

Length: 4.8mm, width: 4.6mm; body broadly subquadrate, sides weakly rounded, widest at humeri, very strongly flattened, glabrous; dorsum entirely metallic blue, pygidia slightly greenish-blue; frons broad, shallowly depressed at middle, interocular margins weakly convergent dorsad, disk uniformly punctate, punctures separated by about their diameters, frontal stria present along inner margin of eye, bent mediad at front but broadly interrupted medially; epistoma with apical margin distinctly emarginate; labrum about 3 ×wider than long, distinctly and narrowly emarginate; both mandibles with basal tooth; pronotal sides strongly converging, arcuate to apex, weakly explanate at sides, lateral marginal stria complete around lateral and anterior margins, very fine and close to margin, submarginal stria absent; pronotal disk with only fine ground punctation over median three-fourths of disk, with small, shallowly impressed secondary punctures sparsely interspersed at sides; elytra with single complete epipleural stria, outer subhumeral stria absent, inner subhumeral stria more or less complete, dorsal stria 1 and 2 complete, 2nd stria very fine basally, 3rd stria present in basal half and as a short series of apical punctures, 4th stria represented by few apical fragments, 5th and sutural striae absent; elytral disk with small secondary punctures in apical fifth; prosternal keel broad, weakly convex, base weakly produced, carinal striae more or less complete, separate, subparallel; prosternal lobe about half keel length, apical margin broadly rounded, marginal stria obsolete at sides; mesoventrite broadly and shallowly emarginate, marginal stria interrupted at middle; mesometaventral stria present at middle, detached laterally, inner lateral metaventral stria extending obliquely posterolaterad toward outer corner of metacoxa, abbreviated apically, outer lateral metaventral stria absent, metaventral disk impunctate at middle; protibia narrow, elongate, with three weak marginal teeth, outer margin very finely serrulate between; meso- and metatibiae narrow, each with a single marginal spine about 3/4 of the way towards the apex; pygidia short and wide, propygidium with basal transverse stria present at middle, obsolete at sides; propygidium and pygidium both with medium sized, ocellate punctures, those of propygidium separated by slightly more than their diameters, those of the pygidium becoming smaller and denser, particularly toward apex. Male genitalia: not known.

Remarks.

The type of the genus, Baconia loricata , is unfortunately still known only from the type specimen, which appeared too delicate to dissect. It is an unmistakeable species, being nearly twice the size of any other known species, as well as being among the most strongly flattened (Fig. 3A). It appears closely related to Baconia patula , sharing many subtle characters, but its size and metallic coloration will distinguish it immediately.