Prothymidia Rivalier, 1957

Serrano, Artur R. M. & Capela, Rúben A., 2013, The tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Cicindelinae) of Angola: a descriptive catalogue and designation of neotypes, Zootaxa 3731 (4), pp. 401-444 : 416-417

Prothymidia Rivalier, 1957 (Rev. Fr. Entom. 14: 318)

An identification key for this Afrotropical genus was given by Schüle (2002) which complemented it in another work (Schüle 2004). It is represented in Angola by 2 species.

Prothymidia angusticollis angusticollis (Boheman, 1848) (Ins. Caffr. 1: 15)

Distribution in Angola

Old records:

— Angola (Welwitsch), Moçamedes (=Namibe) (NAMIBE) (353) (Anchieta) (Putzeys 1880 sub Jansenia angusticollis ). —Ganda (BENGUELA) (278), Bimbi (=Bimbe) (HUAMBO) (210), Sangeve (HUILA) (= Sangevé; =Sangueve)

(300) (Horn 1935; Monard et al. 1956 sub Cicindela angusticollis ; Ferreira 1961 sub Myriochile angusticollis ). —Malange (MALANJE) (131) (Basilewsky 1955 sub Myriochile angusticollis ).

New localities reported: 75 km N Caconda (near Cuima) (HUAMBO) (280); 20 km S Caluquembe, 3,5 km SW Negola, 20 km NE Cacula (HUILA) (317) (P. Schüle pers. comm.).

Remarks. A wide spread species throughout Africa south of Sahara, but only common in southern and eastern Africa (Werner 2000a). The species is usually found in savannah and open forest habitats and adults run very quickly when disturbed (P. Schüle pers. comm.).

Prothymidia putzeysi (W. Horn, 1900) (Deutsch. Ent. Zeitschr. 207)

Distribution in Angola

Old records:

— Type locality: Angola (without exact locality), 1 ♂, SDEI.

—Bimbi (=Bimbe) (HUAMBO) (210) (Horn 1935; Monard et al. 1956; Ferreira 1965 all sub Cicindela putzeyi ). —Caconda (HUILA) (299), Chiyaka (=Tchiacana) (BENGUELA) (251), Ekuiva River (=Kuiva River)

(BENGUELA or HUAMBO) (Wellman & Horn 1908 sub Cicindela putzeyi ).

— 14 km SE Lubango (=Sá da Bandeira) (HUILA) (336) (Cassola 1995).

New localities reported: 6 Km N Alto Hama (HUAMBO (232); 10 km and 20 km S Caluquembe, 10 km SW Cacula (HUILA) (317) (P. Schüle pers. comm.).

Remarks. An endemic tiger beetle species of Angola. We could not locate precisely the collection site on the Kuiva River. Wellman & Horn (1908) noted that “this reddish species always almost occurred on clayey soil, and usually with C. mechowi . In Chiyaka, it was taken on an artificial bare place made for the purpose of attracting Cicindelidae . A peculiar point noted is that this beetle jumps and flies like a small grasshopper which is always found with it. On one occasion, a large asilid fly was observed to catch a specimen of C. putzeyi ”. Another fact which highlights from the above notes is that although the authors refer apparently to many individuals observed, the description of this species is based only on a single specimen! Interestingly also is that this seems to have happened numerous times with the tiger beetles of Angola. The species seems to be broadly distributed throughout the provinces of Benguela, Huambo and Huila. P. Schüle (pers. comm.) found it in open secondary forests.