Otostigmus ruficeps Pocock, 1890

Otostigma ruficeps Pocock, 1890, 247, Plate 12, Figs 2 & 2 b. Madras, India. O. (O.) ruficeps: Attems, 1930, 141.

O. ruficeps: Khanna, 1994, 466.

O. (O.) ruficeps: Lewis, 1996, 828, Figs 20 –23. (Incorrectly synonymised under O. multidens). O. ruficeps: Joshi & Edgecombe 2013, 119, Figs 68–77 (revised species diagnosis). Karnataka and Kerala, India.

Diagnosis. (From Joshi & Edgecombe 2013). Otostigmus with 21 elongate antennal articles, the basal 2–2.5 glabrous dorsally; forcipular tooth-plates with 4+4 large teeth, small (fifth) inner tooth variably present; four teeth along margin of forcipular trochanteroprefemoral process; longitudinal median depression on posterior half of tergite of ultimate leg-bearing segment; two apical spines on coxopleural process, dorsal spine rarely present; lateral spine mostly lacking; two tarsal spurs on legs 1–4 to 1–19 (usually 1–17 to 1–19), one on leg 20; a tibial spur typically on legs 1–6 to 1–8; ultimate leg prefemur with 2 VM spines and 2–3 VL spines. (The leg shown in Joshi & Edgecombe’s Fig. 74 has three rows each of two prefemoral spines).

Remarks. Lewis (1996) synonymised Pocock’s O. ruficeps from India under multidens based on an examination of the holotype which has only 5+5 coxosternal teeth and the last four pairs of legs missing. Its distribution when compared to O. multidens, is disjunct. The redescription of the species by Joshi & Edgecombe (1913) is based on new material from the Western Ghats.