Brachinus (Metabrachinus) tetracolon Chaudoir, 1876

Akhil, S. V., Divya, M. & Sabu, K. Thomas, 2020, Bombardier beetles of genus Brachinus Weber, 1801 (Carabidae: Brachininae Brachinini) from India, Zootaxa 4816 (4), pp. 576-600 : 593-594

Brachinus (Metabrachinus) tetracolon Chaudoir, 1876

Fig. 1e

Brachinus tetracolon Chaudoir, 1876: 61 ; Bates, 1891: 336; Andrewes, 1930a: 52.

Type locality. Bangladesh: Dhaka, coll. M. S. Stevens.

Type depository. MNHN .

Specimen examined (n=1). Syntype labelled. “‘Deccan’, coll. M.S. Stevens, det. Chaudoir”.

Description. Length 16.0 mm. Head, pronotum, antennae and scutellum dark reddish brown; palpi and legs light reddish brown; lateral margin of pronotum and elytra brownish black.

Head stout, as wide as long, smooth, glabrous, a patch of setae around the eyes; eyes prominent, protruding; frontal impression deep, clear; neck smooth; antennae short, stout, not reaching the middle of elytra.

Pronotum broad, wider than long, smooth, glabrous, wrinkles very fine; disc laterally convex, anterior twothirds rounded, posterior third divergent, hind angle sharp, acute, slightly projecting laterally; apical and basal margin straight, lateral edge of apical margin projecting forward; median groove shallow; anterior transverse furrow clear, deep.

Elytra subparallel, broad, glabrous; humerus straight, squared, corners rounded; apex rounded, without reentrant angle; scutellum pointed; striations clear, keel shaped, pointed, intervals flat, broad, smooth; three reddish yellow spots on each elytron, first transverse, extending between fourth and eight striations, second rounded, just below the middle portion, third very narrow along the apical region not reaching the suture; a reddish yellow line starting as a very faint line from the humerus running along the lateral edge joining the first and the third spot, apical portion of first and second striae including the interval brownish black.

Distribution. INDIA: Bengal: Asansol. BANGLADESH: Dhaka. SRI LANKA: Vavuniya, Hambantota.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dorsal habitus of Indian Brachinus species: a) B. dryas Andrewes, 1936 (holotype, BMNH); b) B. inops Andrewes, 1932 (holotype, BMNH); c) B. hexagrammus Chaudoir, 1876 (syntype, MNHN); d) B. sexmaculatus Dejean, 1825 (syntype, MNHN); e) B. tetracolon Chuadoir, 1876 (syntype, MNHN); f) B. tetragrammus Chaudoir, 1876 (syntype, MNHN); g) B. pictus (Hope, 1833) (ZSIM); h) B. cinctellus Chaudoir, 1876 (syntype, MNHN); i) B. eucosmus Andrewes, 1937 (holotype, BMNH)