Ophionea interstitialis Schmidt-Göbel, 1846

Sudhakar Anagha, V. S. & Sabu, Thomas K., 2024, Additions to the taxonomy of the genus Ophionea Klug, 1821 (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Lebiinae) and a new species from India, Zootaxa 5437 (4), pp. 523-536 : 532-533

Ophionea interstitialis Schmidt-Göbel, 1846

( Figure 3B )

Ophionea interstitialis Schmidt-Göbel, 1846: 20 ; Gestro, 1875: 855; Bates, 1886: 99; id. 1889: 279; id. 1892: 380; Bouchard, 1903: 172; Maindron, 1910: 35; Andrewes, 1923: 4; id. 1929: 310; id. 1930: 241; Liebke, 1938: 80; Lorenz, 2005: 442; Terada & Wu, 2014: 24; Raj &Thomas, 2019: 6.

= Ophionea cyanocephala Redtenbacher, 1867: 4 [non Fabricius]; Andrewes, 1924b: 460.

= Casnoidea interstitialis (Schmidt-Göbel) : Dupuis, 1913:270; Csiki, 1932: 1535; Jedlička, 1963: 499; Baehr, 1996: 1058.

Revised description. Length: 7 mm.

Color: Head bluish-black. Labrum and mandibles reddish-brown. Palpi, antennomeres 1–3 and basal half of antennomere 4 yellowish-brown, rest of antennomeres reddish-brown. Prothorax reddish-yellow. Elytra reddish-yellow with bluish-black basal fascia, which is not interrupted at the suture, a broad transverse fascia behind the middle of elytra. Elytral spots yellowish-white. Legs reddish-yellow with the tip of the femur dark reddish-brown. First two ventrites pitch brown, remaining ventrites yellowish with a bluish-black ventral fascia.

Head rhomboidal, convex, narrowed posteriorly forming a short neck. Dorsal surface smooth and glabrous. Eyes moderately prominent. Orbits almost regularly oblique. Carinae along the inner margin of eye reaches the middle of the eyes. posterior supraorbital setae slightly away from the posterior margin of the eye. Antennae elongate, filiform, surpassing the base of prothorax, pilose from antennomere 4 onwards.

Prothorax moderately elongate, convex, bottle shaped, much narrower than the head, broadest almost in the middle length and more constricted towards the front than towards the back. Dorsal surface smooth, slightly wrinkled across basal and apical areas with one pair of setae present laterally. Anterior angle almost rectangular. Median line very fine, obliterated at base and apex.

Elytra moderately long, reaching maximum width slightly behind the middle and obliquely truncated at the apex; apical truncation moderately sinuate; lateral apical angle obtuse; whole surface pilose and microreticulate; striae represented by rows of coarse punctures becoming faint towards base and apex. Interval 3 with 8–9 setiferous punctures. An elongated elytral spot located on interval 4 and partially on interval 5 is completely embedded in the apical portion of posterior broad fascia. Hind wings fully developed.

Legs elongate and slender. Femora with few elongate setae.

Distribution. India: Tamil Nadu (Genji), Bihar (Pusa), Pondicherry; Myanmar; Sri Lanka; Vietnam, Cambodia; Indonesia; Thailand; Philippines; Malay Peninsula and Archipelago; China.

Remarks. Ophionea interstitialis resembles O. ceylonica but differs with setiferous punctures on elytral intervals. In O. ceylonica , setiferous punctures present on interval 3 and 5 whereas in O. interstitialis , setiferous punctures present on interval 3 only.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Dorsal habitus of Ophionea. (A) O. nigrofasciata Schmidt-Göbel, 1846, holotype; (B) O. interstitialis Schmidt- Göbel, 1846, holotype; (C) Ophionea ceylonica (Baehr,1996), first report from India; (D) O. ceylonica (Baehr,1996), holotype; (E) Lectotype of Ophionea indica [Odacantha cyanocephala (Thunberg, 1784)]; (F) O. bhamoensis bhamoensis (Bates, 1892), cotype.