Craspedophorus dicranothorax (Alluaud, 1915)

Häckel, Martin, 2017, A contribution to the knowledge of the subfamily Panagaeinae Hope, 1838 from Africa. Part 3. Revision of the Craspedophorus strachani and C. brevicollis groups (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Zootaxa 4330 (1), pp. 1-67 : 10-11

4. Craspedophorus dicranothorax (Alluaud, 1915)

( Plate 7 , Figs 65, 66)

Eudema dicranothorax Alluaud, 1915b: 252 (type locality “Gabon” probably in error). Craspedophorus dicranothorax Lorenz 2005: 320 . Häckel and Farkač 2012: 80.

Type material. Holotype (♂): “Congo [handwritten]/ Type [printed in red on white label]// Eudema / dicranothorax / Alluaud / Alluaud déterm. [handwritten in black on white label]” ( Plate 5 , Fig. 65, MNHN)

Additional material examined. Central Africa. 1♀: “[= Sangha-Mbaéré prefecture], Ndoki NP, Camp 1, chablis 1 , Lac 1, 02°28'40.5 N 016°13'02.6 E ” ( Plate 5 , Fig. 66, cMH) Congo (Brazzaville). 1♀: “ Museum Paris / Congo franç. / N'Kogo // H. Bonet 1903 // Cr. dicranothorax / All. / P. Basilewsky det. 1954” ( MNHN) . DR Congo: Bas-Congo. 1♂: “ Mayumbe: Temvo ” ( MRAC) . Gabon. 1♀: “[Ogooué-Ivindo Province] Bakouaka ” (cDM) ; 1♀: “[Ogooué-Lolo Province] Lastourville ” ; 1♂, 1♀: “ Distr. M'Bigon [= Mbigou, Ngounié Province]: Makogonio ” ; 1♂: “[Nyanga Province] Tchibanga ” ( MRAC) .

Note. This species is based on a single specimen. When describing this species Alluaud (1915b: 252) states that the type locality is “ Gabon ”. In MNHN I have found the specimen labeled by Alluaud as holotype, its locality being “ Congo ” (recently Congo Brazzaville and a part of RCA). With regard to the specimens nowadays found in Congo (Brazzaville) and in the Central African Republic I presume that the locality specification in the holotype ( Congo) is correct, whereas Alluaud’s description ( Gabon) seems to be wrong. Description (in part, see Alluaud 1915b: 252). “Length 20.5 mm. Body black, glossy with antennae and tarsi reddish, each elytron with two yellow maculae: humeral macula in basal third, reaching from VI to VIII interval; preapical macula in apical third, on the same intervals. Head with vertex punctured. Pronotum more grossly punctured than head, with anterior angles, widely rounded and posterior angles forming points, strongly protruded, outreach posteriorly the basal level, separated from the base by a deep concavity. Elytra convex, ovoid, quite short, strongly striated, with intervals convex, very sparsely punctured; intervals III, V and VII somewhat larger than the others. Venter grossly punctured; metepisterna squared, short. This species is very simply distinguishable in its posterior pronotal angles, which differently, unorthodoxly shaped. Because of other characters, as ovoid, quite short body, it belongs in one group with Eudema grossa [= Craspedophorus grossus ( Hope, 1842) ] and E. [= C.] strachani Hope, [1842] , occurring in tropical West Africa. The only specimen, I have, seems to be pretty abraded; although some setae on pronotum and elytral margins are visible, short and reddish (as coloured as antennae and tarsi), which indicated as well coloured setae, covering dorsum in fresh specimens. Habitat. a single specimen, labeled Gabon, in my collection” [from French].

Distribution. Central African Republic, Congo (Brazzaville), DR Congo: Bas-Congo; Gabon.

Figures

PLATE 5. Habitus of Craspedophorus strachani group IV (Scale bar: 10 mm). 34. C. chevalieri (Alluaud, 1915) HT (male); 35. C. chevalieri (Alluaud, 1915), male, Central Africa, Kémo prefecture; 36. C. chevalieri (Alluaud, 1915) male, Cameroon (HT of C. chevalieri jokoanus Basilewsky, 1987); 37. C. cuneatus cuneatus (Alluaud, 1915), male, Cameroon: Centre; 38. C. cuneatus cuneatus (Alluaud, 1915), HT (female); 39. C. cuneatus rotundatus n. ssp., HT (male); 40. C. cuneatus rotundatus n. ssp., PT female, Central Africa, Bamingui-Bandoran; 41. C. cuneatus paromius Basilewsky, 1987, HT (male); 42. C. cuneatus paromius Basilewsky, 1987, PT male, DR Congo: Orientale; 43. C. cuneatus paromius Basilewsky, 1987, PT female, DR Congo: Orientale.

PLATE 7. Habitus of Craspedophorus strachani group VI (Scale bar: 10 mm). 56. C. phenacoides n. sp., HT (male); 57. C. phenacoides n. sp., PT female, Cameroon, Centre; 58. C. lemariei n. sp., HT (male); 59 a. C. ruficrus (Chaudoir, 1861) HT (female); b. C. ruficrus (Chaudoir, 1861), female, Guinea Equatorial; 60. C. dicranulothorax n. sp., HT (female); 61 a. C. glaber Bates, 1886, male, Cameroon, Southwest; b. C. glaber Bates, 1886, male, Cameroon, Centre (comparative type Basilewsky 1954); 62 a. C. glaber Bates, 1886, HT (female); b. C. glaber Bates, 1886, female, “ Old Calabar ” (labeled as C. lafertei, MNHN); 63. C. lafertei Murray, 1857, lectotype female, established by Basilewsky 1960; 64. C. lafertei Murray, 1857, female, “ W Africa ” (paralectotype established by Chaudoir 1879, MNHN); 65. C. dicranothorax (Alluaud, 1915), HT (male); 66. C. dicranothorax (Alluaud, 1915), female, Central Africa.