Scoriaderma cordicolle (Waterhouse)

Foley, Ian A. & Ivie, Michael A., 2008, A phylogenetic analysis of the tribe Zopherini with a review of the species and generic classification (Coleoptera: Zopheridae), Zootaxa 1928 (1), pp. 1-72 : 24

Scoriaderma cordicolle (Waterhouse)

Figs. 15–16 , 20–21

Nosoderma cordicolle Waterhouse, 1880a: 214 ; Waterhouse, 1880b: plate iii.

Scoriaderma cordicolle ; Gebien, 1936: 670.

Scoriaderma comoriense Fairmaire, 1894a : C. NEW SYNONYMY

Diagnosis: See above, under genus.

Distribution: Upland forests of southeastern Africa at elevations around 1500 meters, and the Comoro Islands.

Recorded distribution: A summary of the 39 specimens of the genus examined is COMORO ISLANDS. KENYA: Kwale District , Makadara Forest , Shimba Hills Res. TANZANIA : Usambara Hills. ZIMBABWE.

Types: Nosoderma cordicolle Waterhouse 1880a . Probably lost, see Notes below.

Scoriaderma comoriense Fairmaire : LECTOTYPE here designated, of undetermined sex, intact in MNHN. Handwritten Comores / red rectangle TYPE/ Scoriaderma ; comorianum; n-g.; J- Comores / light blue rectangle Muséum Paris; 1906; Coll. L. Fairmaire/ red square LECTOTYPE; Scoriaderma ; comoriense ; Fairmaire 1894; designated; I. A. Foley 2006. PARALECTOTYPE here designated, of undetermined sex, missing right protarsus, in NHMB-Frey Collection. Handwritten (in same hand as Lectotype) J. Comores / on pink card hand written; typed Cotype; handwritten comoriense / red square PARALECTOTYPE; Scoriaderma ; comoriense ; Fairmaire 1894; designated; I. A. Foley 2006.

Notes: We have not been able to locate the holotype of Nosoderma cordicolle , which seems to have been lost. Waterhouse (1880a, 1880b) stated it was in the “possession of Colonel Shelley,” and it is not among Waterhouse’s types deposited in the BMNH (Maxwell V. L. Barclay, in lit.), nor is it in the Hope Museum at Oxford (James Hogan, in lit.). We do not know anything further of Shelley or his collection. There was an ornithologist by the name of G. E. Shelley who worked in Africa, and sold a collection of beetles in 1889 ( Horn and Kahle 1937), but in 1896, when G. E. Shelley published “The Birds of Africa,” he held the rank of Captain ( Shelley 1896), so he would not have been the 1880 Colonel Shelley. At this point, we must assume that the type of Nosoderma cordicolle has been lost, but it may still exist in one of the smaller British or European museums. No Neotype is deemed necessary for N. cordicolle , as no taxonomic confusion is involved in the interpretation of the single species in east Africa.

We base our interpretation of the species on Waterhouse’s (1880a) description, the beautifully rendered illustration (1880b), the opinions of previous workers, and material from the mountain ranges of the Kenya / Tanzania border region that produced Waterhouse’s type .

With the removal of S. congolense to Verodes , the remaining 39 specimens of Scoriaderma examined represent a single variable species. Although there is a large amount of individual variation in color pattern and intensity of elytral sculpture (like many members of the tribe), no consistent geographical differences could be found, not even between the types from the Comoro Islands, and populations on the mainland of Africa. Because there seem to be no recent collections of the genus from the Comoro Islands, it is possible that those types were mislabeled or are part of an introduced population from the mainland. In any case, the name S. comoriense is a junior synonym of S. cordicolle NEW SYNONYMY. This conclusion will need testing with additional specimens.

Figures

FIGURES 14–15. 14. Noserinus furcatus epipleuron. 15. Scoriaderma cordicolle. Prothoracic hypomeron. Scale bars = 1mm.

FIGURES 16–19. Dorsal habiti. 16. Scoriaderma cordicolle, Tanzania; 17. Sesaspis denticulata, Mexico, Nuevo Leon; 18. Sesaspis ashei, Mexico, Hidalgo; 19. Sesaspis doyeni, Mexico, Nuevo Leon. Space bar = 5mm.

FIGURES 20–21. Scoriaderma cordicolle. 20. Dorsal surface of head and pronotum; 21. Ventral surface of head and prosternum. Scale bars = 1mm.