Baconia grossii, 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 : 224-226

Baconia grossii sp. n. Fig 64DMap 20

Type locality.

BRAZIL: Paraná: Piraquara [25.49˚S, 48.98˚W]

Type material.

Holotype female: "BRASIL, PR, Piraquara, 15-VII-06, 1000 m P. Grossi col." / "Coletado em masugo arboricula" / “DZUP272577” (UFPR).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 2.5mm, width: 1.8mm; body elongate, subparallel-sided, moderately depressed; dorsum metallic blue, pronotum faintly more greenish-blue than elytra, venter rufobrunneus with faint metallic sheen; much of dorsum very finely, inconspicuously pubescent; frons weakly carinate above antennal bases, shallowly depressed at middle, punctation of frontal disk rather sparse, slightly denser in dorsolateral corners, frontal stria present along eyes, more or less obsolete in middle, but indicated faintly by serial punctures; epistoma more or less uniformly, weakly convex; labrum about 4 ×wider than long, apical margin weakly emarginate; each mandible with strong, acute median tooth; antennal scape rather short, apex expanded, obliquely truncate, club small, elongate oval, basal half nearly glabrous; pronotal sides subparallel in basal half, increasingly rounded to apices, marginal stria complete along lateral and anterior margins; lateral submarginal pronotal stria present along sides, weakly carinate, approaching marginal stria near anterior corner, pronotal disk narrowly, weakly depressed along its inner edge, depression slightly broadening in anterior corner; pronotal discal punctation fine and sparse medially, only very slightly denser to sides, particularly in posterior corners; elytra with two more or less complete epipleural striae, with a third variably abbreviated, outer subhumeral stria absent, inner subhumeral stria present as very short basal fragment, 1st-3rd dorsal striae nearly complete, subequal, slightly abbreviated apically, 4th stria weak, fragmented, present in about basal two-thirds, connected by fine basal arch to base of 5th stria, which is similarly fine, indicated by only few fragments, sutural stria present only in middle third, elytral punctation fine, sparse, but present throughout, slightly denser posterad; prosternum narrow basally, weakly convex, keel narrowly and weakly emarginate at base, carinal striae united along basal margin, subparallel in basal third, weakly divergent anterad, more or less complete; prosternal lobe about two-thirds keel length, apical margin bluntly rounded, weakly deflexed, marginal stria fine, complete to sides; mesoventrite with anterior margin weakly produced, marginal stria complete, mesometaventral stria absent; lateral metaventral stria extending posterolaterad toward middle of metacoxa, outer lateral stria close to inner, almost two-thirds its length, disrupted by lateral punctures, metaventral disk with only very fine, sparse ground punctation medially; abdominal ventrite 1 with single lateral stria abbreviated apically, middle portion of disk mostly very finely sparsely punctate, with slightly coarser punctures along posterior margin; protibia with 3 weak marginal teeth and few weaker basal marginal denticles, outer margin very finely serrulate; mesotibia with 2 marginal spines; outer metatibial margin smooth; propygidium without basal stria, with coarse, shallow punctures uniformly separated by about their diameters, punctures microsculptured within; propygidial gland openings fine but evident, about one-third from basal and lateral margins, surrounding disk impunctate; pygidium more finely punctate, coarse punctures mostly confined to basal half. Male: not known.

Remarks.

Among the species with the frons variably transversely carinate, the mandibles strongly dentate, and the antennal club at least somewhat glabrous basally, this species may be distinguished by the faint metallic coloration of the venter and the basally arched 4th dorsal elytral stria (Fig. 64D), in addition to characters distinguishing it from Baconia famelica , above.

The labels indicate that the sole specimen of this species was collected in arboreal moss, a unique record for the genus, but perhaps a worthwhile place to search for species otherwise collected only in flight traps.

Etymology.

We name this species for our friend Paschoal Grossi, collector of the unique type of this species, and provider of many other interesting specimens over the course of our studies.