Coridius fuscus (Westwood, 1837)

Boyane, Swapnil S., Sen, Sandeep, Priyadarsanan, Dharma Rajan, Thunga, Pavan Kumar, Joshi, Nikhil U. & Ghate, Hemant V., 2024, Integrative taxonomy of the genus Coridius Illiger, 1807 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Dinidoridae) reveals hidden diversity and three new species from North-East India, PLoS ONE (e 0298176) 1807 (7), pp. 1-46 : 28-29

Coridius fuscus (Westwood, 1837) ( Figs 5I, 6I, 9I, 10I, 11I and 12I).

Aspongopus fuscus westwood, 1837: 26; Dallas, 1851: 349; Vollenhoven, 1868: 39; walker, 1868: 483; St å l, 1870: 85; St å l, 1871: 609, 645; Atkinson, 1889: 90; Lethierry & Severin, 1893: 237; Breddin, 1900: 332; Distant, 1900: 221; 1901a: 819; 1901b: 104; 1902: 284, 285; Kirkaldy, 1909: 256; Distant, 1921: 166; Lehmann, 1923: 182; hina, 1928: 195; Hoffmann, 1931: 144; 1932: 1013; Schouteden, 1933: 53; wu, 1933: 215, 216; Cheo, 1935: 28; Hoffmann, 1935: 119; Yang, 1962: 47, 48; Chang, 1974: 356; Hsiao et al., 1977: 70, pl. 9, Fig 124; Hua, 1989: 43.

Aspongopus marginalis Dallas, 1851: 350 ; walker, 1868: 483; St å l, 1870: 85; Atkinson, 1889: 90, 91; Lethierry & Severin, 1893: 237. Synonymized by Distant, 1900: 221.

Aspongobus [sic] fuscus Dohrn, 1859: 21 .

Aspongobus [sic] marginalis Dohr, 1859: 21 .

Aspongopus (Aspongopus) fuscus Schouteden, 1913: 8 ; Tang, 1935: 356.

Coridius fuscus Yang, 1940: 8 , 10, 19–21, Fig 5; Hoffmann, 1948: 22, 23; Stichel, 1962a: 725; 1962b: 205; Sienkiewicz, 1964: 112; Durai, 1986: 4, 5; 1987: 188, 202, 203, Figs 197–200; Schaefer & Ahmad, 1987: 30; Lis, 1990: 114, 115, 141; 1992: 38; Rolston et al., 1996: 39, 40, 99.

Material examined. INDIA: Maharashtra, Raigad , leg. Hemant Ghate, 1.x.2011, 18.771˚N, 73.365˚E, 70 m: 1 M. — INDIA: Maharashtra: Pune , leg. Hemant Ghate, 21.xi.2011, 18.709˚N, 73.460˚E, 670 m: 1 M — INDIA: Maharashtra, Pune, leg. Hemant Ghate, 18.709˚N, 73.474˚E, 747 m: 1 F .

Diagnosis. Dorsally dark brown except lateral margins of pronotum, corium and connexivum, which are completely ochraceous. Antennae black with tip of apical segment brown. Clavus and corium a little paler than body. Ocelli and first three segments of labium brown.

Redescription. Head 2.47 times of wider than longer, mandibular plates longer than clypeus, rounded anteriorly and meeting in front of the clypeus ( Fig 9I). Eyes globular, pedunculate. Ocelli well developed. Labium four segmented, reaching middle of meso-sternum; first and third segment sub-equal, second longest and fourth smaller. Buccula prominent. Antennae five segmented, first segment cylindrical, surpassing apex of head, second and third distinctly compressed, subequal, fourth slightly dilated apically with short setae, fifth fusiform.

Pronotum dorsally finely punctate, calli less punctate, rugulose, appears smooth. Anterior margin of pronotum concave, lateral margin moderately straight, slightly raised. Humeral angles rounded. Pro-sternum sulcate in the middle, lateral area flat. Mesosternum and metasternum smooth on disk with a shallow median groove. Femora laterally flattened and spined; all tibiae sulcate with more prominent and numerous spines on both sides; all tarsi with first and third segments sub-equal, median shortest; first segment of tarsus with dense setae underneath, claws and pulvulli well developed, claws divergent.

Scutellum 0.95 times wider than long, apex rounded, with sparse punctures, deeply punctate basally with many longitudinal rugae.

Male genitalia. Pygophore slightly broad, ventral rim moderately straight ( Fig 10I), ventrally medially raised ( Fig 11I). Parameres highly sclerotized with rugae, outer margin globular and its tip narrowed, setose, inner margin straight ( Fig 11I).

Geographical distribution. Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. This species is reported from two extreme points of India, Nagaland (Eastern Himalayas) and Maharashtra (western Ghats) [ 27, 44].

Remarks. This is a rediscovery of Coridius fuscus (westwood, 1837) in India, 120 years after its last report by Disant (1902). Aspongopus (= Coridius ) fuscus (westwood, 1837) and the Indo-Burmese species Aspongopus (= Coridius ) sanguinolentus (westwood, 1837) are two very similar species, but the former is somewhat elongate and the latter is larger. In a recent revision of Coridius (Durai [ 27]), the distribution of C. fuscus is mentioned as Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Some morphological differences are also noted in the redescription. According to the descriptions by Distant [ 44], the connexivum of C. fuscus is completely ochraceous without any bands, but according to Durai [ 27], the connexivum has black bands in the intersegments. All specimens collected during this study also agree with Distant [ 44]. However, the shape of the dissected pygophore in our collections matches well with the drawings provided by Durai [ 27]. This suggests that there is a possibility that C. fuscus has two color morphs. we are providing illustrations of this species for the first time, with notes on the male genitalia.