Omophron (Omophron) secundum, Anichtchenko & Valainis, 2023

Anichtchenko, Alexander & Valainis, Uldis, 2023, Revision of the subgenus Omophron (s. str.) Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera: Carabidae Omophron) of the Afrotropical region, Zootaxa 5284 (2), pp. 201-246 : 214-215

Omophron (Omophron) secundum sp. n.

Material examined. Holotype, ♀: SENEGAL: „S Senegal, Niokolo Koba N.P., 13.– 17.07.2004, A. Kudrna Jr. leg.” [13.062592, -12.743879] ( PSC) . Paratype 1 ♀: BURKINA FASO: Banfora , Signena, 10°31’10.9’’N 004°41’11.3’’O, 296m , 5–6.VII.2013, piège UV, P. Moretto leg. [10.520679, -4.682591] ( PSC) .

Differential diagnosis. Easily differentiated from other species of “ minutum ”-group, by combination of very small body size, smooth clypeus and pronotum with sparsely punctate disc.

Description. Body length 3.3–3.5 mm; width 2.7–2.9 mm. Habitus ( Fig. 18 ).

Color: head, pronotum, elytra and mandibles dark reddish brown; legs, antennae, sides of elytra and pronotum brownish yellow. Labrum pale yellow. Venter brown.

Head fairly flat, coarsely but sparsely punctate on vertex and near eyes, less punctate on frons. Subocular ridge moderately developed, curved upwards and weakly rounded. Clypeus uniform, smooth and moderately convex, bisetose. Clypeo-frontal suture indistinct. Labrum with almost straight anterior margin, moderately rounded sides and six setae. Antennal scape unisetose at apex, antennomeres 3 and 4 smooth, with only a few longer setae around the apex, 5–11 pubescent. Medial side of fourth palpomere of the maxillary palpi distinctly curved, last palpomere with acute apex. Lateral side of mandibles near anterior angle of labrum clearly concave.Apex of mandibles strongly narrowed. Gula smooth, gena near eyes coarsely punctate and wrinkled. HW: 1.33 mm.

Pronotum (PL: 0.91 mm, PW: 2.56 mm.) convex, base bisinuate on each side, sides evenly rounded, with wide border. Anterior angles acute, moderately prominent forwards. Pronotum uniformly and moderately punctate except disc with a much more sparsely punctate transverse band, punctures broad but shallow. Median impression very shallow and almost effaced. Prosternum and proepisternum coarsely punctate, proepipleura very sparsely punctate.

Elytra (EL: 2.40 mm, EW: 2.86 mm.) clearly convex, sides strongly rounded, with moderately wide border. Elytral pattern barely visible unless viewed under bright illumination. Elytra with 15 striae extended from base to apex. Striae superficial, moderately punctate, punctures shallow on disc, deeper at the apex and sides of the elytra. Intervals flat on disc, weakly convex laterally.

Venter ( Fig. 20 ). Metasternum sparsely punctate, metepisternum and metepimeron coarsely and densely punctate, punctures on elytral epipleura smaller. Ventrites IV and V with 9–10 large punctures laterally and with a transverse row of relatively small punctures along transverse furrow; ventrite VI densely punctate by large dots. Metacoxa with 9–10 punctures.

Etymology. The name is based on a play on word second as Adjective and as Noun. Previously, O. minutum included the smallest members of the genus, but O. secundum members are even smaller.

Distribution. Burkina Faso and Senegal (Map. 2).

Figures

FIGURES 17–18. Habitus of Omophron “minutum”—species group, dorsal view: 17—O. (O.) clavareaui; 18—O. (O) secundum sp. n. (Holotype). Scale bar 5 mm.

FIGURES 19–20. Habitus of Omophron “minutum”—species group, ventral view: 19—O. (O.) clavareaui; 20—O. (O) secundum sp. n. (Holotype). Scale bar 5 mm.