Laccophilus benoiti Guignot, 1953

Bistroem, Olof, Nilsson, Anders N. & Bergsten, Johannes, 2015, Taxonomic revision of Afrotropical Laccophilus Leach, 1815 (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae), ZooKeys 542, pp. 1-379 : 139-140

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Dytiscidae

Laccophilus benoiti Guignot, 1953 Figs 106-107, 295-296, 447, 555

Laccophilus benoiti Guignot 1953b: 234, 236 (original description, discussion, faunistics); Guignot 1955c: 182, 188 (faunistics, female description); Guignot 1959a: 579, 581, 584 (description, faunistics); Rocchi 2000: 25 (discussion); Nilsson 2001: 240 (catalogue, faunistics); Nilsson 2015: 209 (catalogue, faunistics).

Type locality.

Zaire: Elisabethville.

Type material studied

(1 ex.). Holotype: male: "Holotypus / Coll. Mus. Congo Elisabethville, A la lumière XI-50/VI-51 Ch. Seydel / Type / R. DET H. 6182 / Guignot det., 1953 Laccophilus benoiti Guign. Type male" (MRAC; habitus in Fig. 447).

Additional material studied

(1 ex.). Zaire: "Allotypus female / Coll. Mus. Congo Elisabethville ( à la lumière) 1-III-52/30-IX-1953 Ch. Seydel / Allotype / R. DET H 6649 ee. / Guignot det., 1954 Laccophilus benoiti Guign. Allotype female" (1 ex. MRAC; not type material). [Comment: attribution of the female specimen to Laccophilus benoiti is based on Guignot’s determination.]

Diagnosis.

Laccophilus benoiti is characterized by exhibiting inconspicuous external characters but with very peculiar, strongly angled penis, which separates it from all other African Laccophilus species. Thus far only one male, however, is known and available for study. Comparison with males of Laccophilus epinephes shows that their bodies are externally identical. The unique appearance of penis, being strongly bent, raises suspicion that it is a case of deformation and that Laccophilus benoiti in fact is conspecific with Laccophilus epinephes . Further study is needed to settle this problem.

Description.

Body length 4.3-4.4 mm, width 2.1-2.2 mm. Habitus (Fig. 447), distinct colour pattern absent (in female specimen, studied, there is a semi-transverse row of small, pale spots (about five spots/elytron) posterior to foremargin of elytra).

Head: Pale ferrugineous. Submat, finely microsculptured; reticulation in part indistinctly double. Large meshes hardly discernible; when discernible large meshes only slightly coarser than fine meshes. At eyes, areas with fine, irregular punctures, the areas which are extended a short distance towards middle of head-disc.

Pronotum: Pale ferrugineous, no distinct colour pattern. Very finely microsculptured; reticulation indistinctly double. Anteriorly and laterally with very fine, sparse and irregular punctures.

Elytra: Pale ferrugineous, with extensive and dense but somewhat indistinct, ferrugineous irrorations (Fig. 447). Rather shiny. Very finely microsculptured; reticulation very indistinctly double. Difference between coarser and fine meshes almost non-existent. Discal, dorsolateral and lateral row of punctures very fine and somewhat irregular.

Ventral aspect: Pale ferrugineous to ferrugineous, no distinct colour pattern discernible. Almost impunctate. Rather shiny, although very finely, in part indistinctly microsculptured. Semitransverse furrows on metacoxal plates shallow, in part indistinct. Abdomen basally with fine, curved striae. Prosternal process slender, apically pointed. Apical ventrite with a small, asymmetric knob (Fig. 106); ventrite broken.

Legs: Pale ferrugineous, pro- and mesotarsus slightly enlarged, with suckers.

Male genitalia: Penis strongly modified and different from all other African Laccophilus species; in lateral aspect penis forms an angle of almost 90° (Figs 295-296).

Female: Externally as male, but elytra basally among irrorations with a semitransverse, irregular row of small pale spots. Apical ventrites simple, without knob (Fig. 107). Pro- and mesotarsus slender.

Distribution.

Zaire (Fig. 555).

Collecting circumstances.

Almost unknown, sampled at light.