Laccophilus pictipennis Sharp, 1882

Bistroem, Olof, Nilsson, Anders N. & Bergsten, Johannes, 2015, Taxonomic revision of Afrotropical Laccophilus Leach, 1815 (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae), ZooKeys 542, pp. 1-379 : 44-45

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Dytiscidae

Laccophilus pictipennis Sharp, 1882 Figs 45-46, 247-248, 398-399, 534

Laccophilus pictipennis Sharp 1882: 305 (original description, faunistics); v. d. Branden 1885: 23 (catalogue, faunistics); Régimbart 1895: 131, 132 (description, faunistics, discussion); Zimmermann 1920a: 24 (catalogue); Zimmermann 1930: 21, 23 (description, faunistics); Balfour-Browne 1951: 193 (discussion, faunistics); Guignot 1952d: 4, 5 (discussion); Guignot 1959a: 533, 536 description, faunistics); Brancucci 1979: 159 (faunistics, description, discussion); Brancucci 1983b:274, 394, 416 (description, faunistics; lectotype designation); Rocchi 1984: 447 (faunistics.); Nilsson and Persson 1993: 79, 94 (faunistics, discussion); Nilsson 2001: 248 (catalogue, faunistics); Nilsson 2003: 77 (faunistics, list); Angus 2003: 16 (synonymy, discussion); Hajek and Reiter 2014: (faunistics, biology); Nilsson 2015: 168 (catalogue, faunistics).

Laccophilus wehnckei Sharp 1882: 306 (original description, faunistics); v. d. Branden 1885: 24 (catalogue, faunistics); Régimbart 1895: 131 (description, faunistics, discussion); Zimmermann1920a: 28 (catalogue); Guignot 1943: 99 (description, faunistics); Guignot 1946c: 270, 273, 277, 312, 315 ( Laccophilus wehnchei Sharp, misspelling: description, faunistics, discussion); Guignot 1952d: 4 (discussion: misidentification by Guignot 1946c); Legros 1954: 268 (faunistics); Legros 1958: 211 (faunistics); Guignot 1959a: 536, 567 (listed as synonym of Laccophilus pictipennis Sharp, discussion); Nilsson and Persson 1993: 79 (list, synonymy); Nilsson 2001: 249 (catalogue, faunistics, list, synonymy); Nilsson 2015: 168 (catalogue, faunistics, list, synonymy). Confirmed synonym.

Type localities.

Laccophilus pictipennis : Saudi Arabia: Hedjaz.

Laccophilus wehnckei : Tanzania: Zanzibar.

Type material studied

(6 exs.): Laccophilus pictipennis : Lectotype (designated by Brancucci (1983b)): Male: "Lectotype / Lectotypus / male-label / 566 / Hedjaz Millingen / Sharp Coll. 1905-313 / Laccophilus pictipennis Shp M.E. Bacchus det. 1977 Syntype / Lectotype Laccophilus pictipennis Sharp des. Brancucci 81" (BMNH; habitus in Fig. 398). - Paralectotypes: same data as lectotype but labeled as “Paralectotype” (1 ex. BMNH); "Paralectotype / Paralectotypus / Abyssinia / Sharp Coll. 1905-313 / Type 566 Laccophilus pictipennis / Laccophilus pictipennis Shp M.E. Bacchus det. 1977 Syntype" (1 ex. BMNH); same data but add: “Raffray” (1 ex. BMNH).

Laccophilus wehnckei : Lectotype (by present designation): female: "Type / E. Africa / Sharp Coll. 1905-313 / Type 620 Laccophilus wehnckei sp. n. Zanzibar" (BMNH; habitus in Fig. 399). - Paralectotype: female: principally same data as lectotype but labelled as “cotype” (1 ex. BMNH).

Additional material studied

(15 exs.). Ethiopia: "Saati Levander" (1 ex. MZH); “Abyssinia” (1 ex. ZMHB). - Somalia: "Daragodleh 25.6. 1963 Linnavuori" (6 exs. MZH); "Lasgori / Laccophilus pictipennis Sharp det. Brancucci 1982" (5 exx. ZMHB, 1 ex. NHMB). Non-African record: - Yemen: "W. Aden Prot. nr Lahej 9-15.7. 1963 Linnavuori" (1 ex. MZH).

Comments on synonymy.

Earlier established synonymy of Laccophilus pictipennis and Laccophilus wehnckei is confirmed by study of external characters; no diagnostically important differences detected. As no males are available of Laccophilus wehnckei we could not in this case undertake comparison of male genitalia. Laccophilus discretus Sharp, 1882, described from Saudi Arabia, has earlier been synonymized with Laccophilus pictipennis . It has never been recorded from Africa by its own name and accordingly, it is outside the scope of this study.

Diagnosis.

Laccophilus pictipennis is characterized by peculiar elytral colour pattern in combination with penis, which is slightly and evenly curved, tapering gradually towards its apex. Note also that male apical ventrite lacks asymmetrically located knob, although excavated on each side of midline and slight medial extension (Fig. 45).

Description.

Body length 4.4-4.7 mm, width 2.5-2.8 mm. Dorsal, aspect of body with fairly distinct colour pattern. African specimens seem to have vaguer dorsal colour pattern (Figs 398-399).

Head: Pale ferrugineous. Punctation indistinct, almost absent; close to eyes with two minute deptressions with irregular, fine punctures. Shiny, although irregularly and rather finely reticulated. In part double reticulation weakly discernible (delimitation in two distinct size classes of meshes vague).

Pronotum: Pale ferrugineous. At frontal margin with a vague, ferrugineous, almost bilobed marking. Punctation fine, sparse to rather sparse and irregularly distributed. Punctures frontally densest. Rather shiny although microsculptured. Reticulation indistinctly divided into two kinds; smaller meshes sometimes discernible within large meshes. In part, only large meshes well-developed.

Elytra: Pale ferrugineous, with extensive, distinct, dark ferrugineous to brownish markings (Fig. 398). Sometimes elytral colour pattern rather vague (Fig. 399). Reticulation double; large meshes contain generally 3-6 small meshes. Small meshes fine, sometimes weakly developed and indistinct. Irregular, discal, dorsolateral and lateral rows of punctures are discernible. All rows of punctures rather sparse, not forming straight rows.

Ventral aspect: Pale ferrugineous to ferrugineous. Rather shiny, although extensively, finely microsculptured. Besides microsculpture metacoxal plates with shallow, transverse furrows and abdomen especially basally with distinct striae. Apical ventrite lacks knob (Fig. 45). Apex of prosternal process rather narrow and pointed.

Legs: Pro- and mesotarsus slightly enlarged, with fine suckers.

Male genitalia: Penis in lateral aspect quite broad, from base slightly and evenly curved to apex (Figs 247-248).

Female: Pro- and mesotarsus slender. Apical ventrite (Fig. 46).

Distribution.

Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania (Zanzibar) (Fig. 534). Material examined also from Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia and Yemen). Only personally examined specimens accepted.

Collecting circumstances.

Almost unknown in Africa. Hajek and Reiter (2014) report the species from Oman being mostly associated with running water, especially in relatively permanent side pools of streams and river at lower and middle altitudes.