Ochicanthon deplanatus (Paulian)

Latha, Mathews, Cuccodoro, Giulio & Sabu, Thomas K., 2011, Taxonomy of the dung beetle genus Ochicanthon Vaz-de-Mello (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) of the Indian subcontinent, with notes on distribution patterns and flightlessness, Zootaxa 2745, pp. 1-29 : 7

Ochicanthon deplanatus (Paulian)

( Figs. 10–12 )

Phacosoma deplanatum Paulian, 1983: 615 .

Description. Body ( Fig. 10 ) predominantly black with two orange-yellow spots along lateral margin of each elytron. Punctation on head and pronotum ( Fig. 11 ) consists of annular setiferous punctures separated by interval approximately equal to their diameter. Pronotum weakly convex, outline at base almost in line with that of elytral suture; laterobasal paramarginal ridge well marked, extended on slightly more than one third of pronotal length; setae almost indistinct, straight and recumbent. Elytra weakly convex; suture not raised; striae shallow, narrow, consisting of chains of oval depressions joined by straight sulci ( Fig. 11 ); interstriae fairly flat, finely punctate, uneven; background microsculpture coriaceous; lateral ridge posteriorly extended to level of apex of second stria. Mesosternum smooth, meso-metasternal line weakly arcuate, metasternum coarsely punctate ( Fig. 12 ). Pygidium covered with shallow annular setiferous punctures becoming finer and sparser ventrally. Protrochanter with outer margin arcuate. Hind wings present.

Male unknown.

Measurements (mm; n = 1: holotype): TL = 6.0; BW = 3.8; PL = 1.8; PW = 3.0; EL = 3.0.

Material examined. Holotype (female, MHNG): “ India Meghalaya, Khasi Hills, Cherrapunjee, 1200m, 26.x.1978, leg. Besuchet & Löbl, #28b” [below Cherrapunjee, sifting in forest at base of rocks].

Distribution and natural history. Northeast India (Cherrapunjee, in the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion).

Diagnosis. Ochicanthon deplanatus is the only species of the Indian subcontinent to have each elytron with 2 orange-yellow spots and coriaceous elytral background microsculpture. These characters are shared with O. obscurus recorded from the eastern boundary of Arunachal Pradesh and beyond the northeast of the Indian subcontinent in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand ( Boucomont 1920, Hanboonsong & Masumoto 2001, Sewak 2006), but O. deplanatus has the pronotum unicolored unlike O. obscurus with anterolateral lobes of pronotum orange-yellow.

Figures

FIGURES 10 – 12. Ochicanthon deplanatus (holotype). Dorsal habitus (10); base of pronotum and elytra (11); mesosternum and metasternum (12). Scale bars = 1 mm.