Baconia pulchella, Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013, A systematic revision of Baconia Lewis (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 343, pp. 1-297 : 132-134

Baconia pulchella sp. n. Figs 38 B–DMap 11

Type locality.

CUBA: Santiago: Jardin Botanico [20.0°N, 75.8°W].

Type material.

Holotype female: "CUBA, Santiago Prov. Santiago, Jardin Botanico, 5-17.XII.1995, 5m, disturb for. FITs, S.Peck, 95-74" / "Caterino/Tishechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00449" (CMNC).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.5mm, width: 1.0mm; body elongate, parallel-sided, moderately depressed, glabrous; color metallic, pronotum, head and pygidium blue, contrasting distinctly with violaceous elytra, venter faintly blue; frons faintly depressed at middle, ground punctation conspicuous with few larger punctures interspersed at middle, particularly dorsad; frontal stria broadly interrupted between antennal bases, present along inner edges of eyes; epistoma weakly elevated along apical margin, truncate; labrum about 4 ×wider than long, apical margin very faintly emarginate; mandibles short, each with conspicuous, acute basal tooth; pronotum with sides subparallel in basal half, narrowed arcuately to apex, lateral and submarginal striae merging behind anterior corner, continued along anterior margin; pronotal disk weakly depressed in anterolateral corners, with ground punctures sparsely impressed throughout, with coarser secondary punctures interspersed in lateral thirds; elytra with two more or less complete epipleural striae, the outer slightly fragmented at middle, outer subhumeral stria absent, short fragment of inner subhumeral present at base, striae 1-4 complete, the 4th bent mediad at base, 5th stria present in apical two-thirds, sutural stria obsolete in basal half, elytral disk with small, sparse punctures restricted to apical sixth, beyond apices of striae; prosternal keel moderately broad, very weakly emarginate at base, carinal striae convergent near basal third, diverging anterad and posterad, slightly abbreviated anteriorly; prosternal lobe about two-thirds keel length, marginal stria obsolete at sides; mesoventrite weakly produced at middle, marginal stria reduced to few lateral punctures; mesometaventral stria broadly arched forward, weakly crenulate, continuous at sides with inner lateral metaventral stria, which extends obliquely posterad toward outer third of metacoxa, outer lateral metaventral stria absent; metaventral disk impunctate at middle; abdominal ventrite 1 with single, complete lateral stria, ventrites 2-5 with sparse punctures at sides, nearly impunctate across middle; protibia unevenly 4-dentate, the middle pair more widely separated, the outer margin finely serrulate between denticles; mesotibia with two marginal spines; outer metatibial margin smooth; propygidium lacking basal stria, ocellate punctures scattered more or less uniformly, larger and denser toward base, propygidial gland openings present, difficult to distinguish from punctures, located about one-third behind anterior margin, one-fourth from lateral corners; pygidium with only fine ground punctation in apical half, secondary punctures becoming evident in basal half. Male: not known.

Remarks.

Baconia pulchella is highly distinct in both appearance and distribution. It is very similar, and closely related to Baconia aeneomicans , the only other metallic-colored aeneomicans group species in the Americas. They also share a frontal stria which is well-impressed at the sides and curves slightly inward at front (though obsolete across the front; Fig. 38B) and a mesometaventral stria which is strongly arched forward to almost completely displace the marginal mesoventral stria (Fig. 38D). The coloration (Fig. 38C) of Baconia pulchella is distinct, with the elytra violet rather than blue-green. It is known only from Cuba.

Etymology.

This species’ name means ‘beauty’, and it is among the most attractively colored Baconia species.