Pristosia crenata ( Putzeys, 1873 )

Schmidt, Joachim & Hartmann, Matthias, 2009, Pristosia Motschulsky, 1865 from the Nepal Himalaya: Taxonomy and Biogeography (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Sphodrini), Zootaxa 2009, pp. 1-26 : 22

Pristosia crenata ( Putzeys, 1873)

Figs. 1, 20, 21.

Catalogue: Calathus crenatus Putzeys, 1873: 82 . Type locality: „ Inde boréale“. Very probably, this labeling refers to a place on the southern slope of the North-Western Himalaya of Indian provinces Kashmir, Himalchal Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh.

Calathus crenatus Putzeys : Andrewes, 1934: 215.

Calathus yunnanensis Jedlicka, 1937: 78 ; synonymy proposed by Lindroth (1956).

Pristosia crenata (Putzeys) : Lindroth, 1956: 547.

Pristosia crenata (Putzeys) : Hovorka & Sciaky, 2003: 531.

Pristosia crenata (Putzeys) : Lorenz, 2005: 400.

Type material: Not studied. This species is unambiguously distinguishable due to its exceptional character combination (see also Lindroth 1956: p. 545, Fig. 28 E, and p. 547, Fig. 30 C+D).

Additional material: NEPAL, DAILEKH DISTRICT: 1 male, N Dailekh, 1600 m, 1.– 2.VI. 1998, leg. W. Schawaller ( SMNS).

Diagnosis: One specimen studied.

Body length 9.5 (specimen studied)– 11.5 mm ( Andrewes 1934).

Colour: Dorsal surface of body shiny, almost black, ventral surface of body and femora dark brown, pronotal lateral margin, knees, tibiae, tarsi, antennae and palpi reddish brown.

Microsculpture: Head with mesh pattern isodiametric, weakly engraved, pronotum with mesh pattern slightly transverse, very weakly engraved, visible under high magnification (120 x), elytra with mesh pattern transverse, weakly engraved in anterior half, moderately engraved in posterior half.

Head and pronotum: Ratio PW/HW 1.57, PW/PL 1.27.

Elytra: Ratio EL/EW 1.60, EW/PW 1.36.

Identification: This species, as far as is known, is the only member of the genus with fully developed and certainly functional hind wings ( Lindroth 1956), and accordingly with parallel sides of elytra, and with metepisterna distinctly longer than wide. Moreover, P. crenata differs from all other Pristosia species by having extraordinary male genital characters, in which the aedeagal median lobe capsule is weakly sclerotized, an only slightly bent behind basal bulb, and in which the internal sac has strongly sclerotized longitudinal folding extending from basal bulb up to median lobe apex.

Distribution: Although P. crenata was originally described from Northern India, within the “Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera ” Hovorka & Sciaky (2003) have specified only the Chinese provinces Fujian and Yunnan, probably based on the fact that Lindroth (1956) had proposed the Chinese Calathus yunnanus Jedlicka, 1937 , as a junior synonym. However, Andrewes (1934) and Lindroth (1956) have already listed other localities, and most of them are located in the Palaearctic region:

BURMA: Without additional data ( Lindroth 1956); Karen Hills ( Andrewes 1934).

INDIA: Mussoori, Mossy Falls; Nainital, Ranikhet; West Almora (all listed by Andrewes 1934); Punjab, Kulu ( Lindroth 1956).

In addition, we can present the first occurrence of the species for the fauna of Nepal ( Fig. 42). Based on this data the species seems more widely distributed along the southern slopes of the Himalaya east to Indochinese Mountains ( Burma) and South West China.

Habitat: Unknown.