Craspedophorus latifrons ( Chaudoir, 1876 )

Häckel, Martin, 2017, A contribution to the knowledge of the subfamily Panagaeinae Hope, 1838 from Africa. Part 3. Revision of the Craspedophorus strachani and C. brevicollis groups (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Zootaxa 4330 (1), pp. 1-67 : 40-41

3. Craspedophorus latifrons ( Chaudoir, 1876)

( Plate 15 , Figs 123a, b; 124a, b, Plate 16 , Fig. 132)

Eudema latifrons Chaudoir, 1876: 354 (type locality “Adowa en Abyssinie [=Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia]”). Craspedophorus latifrons Alluaud 1930: 2 , Basilewsky 1978: 84, Lorenz 2005: 320. Häckel and Farkač 2012: 81.

Craspedophorus laticeps Chaudoir, 1879: 103 by error. Alluaud 1930: 2, syn. nov.

Compared material. 1♂: “Abyssinie / A. Raffray / Voy. 1881. [printed in black on white label]” ( Plate 15 , Fig. 123a, MNHN, Oberthür/Bates Collection). 3♂, 2♀ same labeled as previous (MNHN, Oberthür/Bates Collection). 1♂: “Abyssinie / Raffray [handwritten in black on white label]// Eudema / latifrons Chd. [handwritten in black on white label]// Museum Paris / 1935 / Coll. M. Sédillot [printed in black on blue label]// Cr. latifrons Chd. [handwritten in black on white label]/ P. Basilewsky det., 19[printed in black]54[handwritten in black on white label] (MNHN).

Additional material examined. 1♀ erroneously labeled as Eudema festivum by unknown author and as C. festivus Klug. by Kirschenhofer 1999: “Collect. Plason” ( Plate 15 , Fig. 124a, MNHN). Ethiopia: Oromiya. 3♂,1♀: “Oromiya Reg.: Boran Negele, 5°13'20” N 39°38'10” E, 1538 m ” ( Plate 15 , Fig. 123b, Plate 16 , Fig. 132, cMH, cRS); 1♀: “ 11 km n Moyale, 03°51'05”N 38°46'17”E, 1295 m ” ( Plate 15 , Fig. 124b, cMH); 1♀: “Bedele” (cOH). Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region [SNNPR]. 1♀: “Gamo Gofa Zone, 10 km se Konso, 1150 m ” (cMH); 2♂,1♀: “Mago National Park, Jinka” (cIB); 1♂,1♀: “Woyto, near river” (cRK). Kenya: Coast. 1♀: “Coast Province, sw of Voi” (cMH); 1♀: “Tsavo NP, Sagala Hills, Voi env” (cRK); 3♂,4♀: “Gede Forest, 3°16'S 39°55'E” (NMWC, cPS).

Note. This species was based on a single male specimen, labeled “Adowa en Abyssinie ”. Adwa (also spelled Adowa, Aduwa) is a market town surrounded by Adwa woreda in northern Ethiopia. Maákelay, or Mehakelegnaw (or “The central”) is a Zone in the Ethiopian Region of Tigray. Description (in part, see Chaudoir, 1876: 354). “Length 18 mm. It resembles the species of C. tropicus … - C. conicus … group [= C. festivus species group in this article], but wider. Mainly its head is less narrow. Head as wide as long, very abruptly strangulated behind eyes, with longitudinal depression widely and deeply impressed close to the margin between eyes, eyes more convex, hemispherical, neck not as gross as in C. tropicus ( Hope, 1842) ; frons and vertex punctured and covered with erected setae. Pronotum wider, anterior angles and lateral margins anteriorly distinctly more rounded, creating shell-shaped form; posteriorly margins each with an extruded dent in front of posterior angles, also more rounded, surface with equal sculpture and punctuation as that in the head. Elytra differ more distinctly in their width and interval and they are more grossly punctured. Body, antennae and legs black, as well as the setation cover; humeral elytral macula lemon yellow, consists of 6 macular spots, forming weakly oblique fascia, with margins quite serrate because of macular spots on IV and VI interval which are moved more posteriorly than the others; preapical macula as in [C.] laevifrons (Schaum, 1863). One specimen collected in Adowa, Abyssinia. The external margin of the terminal labial palpomere is very prolonged and pointed in males, distinctly longer than the internal one, in contrast to that in [C.] laevifrons, with terminal palpomere triangular-shaped and simply obliquely snipped” [from French]. Description of Craspedophorus laticeps [= laevifrons] (in part, see Chaudoir 1879: 103). “Length 18 mm, width 8.8 mm. It resembles some form of C. brevicollis ( Dejean, 1831) , but differs from it because alate, and in its differently shaped pronotum, which is less convex anteriorly, as well as in its elytral coloration, with fasciae less expanded. Pronotum weakly narrower, lateral margins less curved anteriorly from midlength, disc less convex, with lateral depressions less marked, and weakly protruded to basal excavations. Elytra narrower, seem more elongated, lateral margins more parallel, humeri less widely rounded; dorsum markedly less convex posteriorly, descending less rapidly to apex mainly posteriorly; striae and intervals not too similarly punctured; elytral fasciae somewhat darker, distinctly less expanded, mainly more transverse, and with more serrate margins; humeral macula reaching from II to VIII stria, consists of 6 macular spots markedly shorter, spots on VII and VIII stria [=next interval] closer towards the base than the others, and by a half more posterior than the spot on VI interval, spots on III and V interval more prolonged towards the base than the contiguous which is prolonged towards the apex; preapical macula consists of five spots, reaching from III to VIII stria, with spots on IV and VI interval twice longer than three others, and spots on VII and VIII interval, each posteriorly arranged with spot on VI interval, anteriorly prolonged by a half of its length. This species was collected in Adoua, Abyssinia, by Mr. Raffray, who gave me a single specimen, ♂ ” [from French]. Basilewsky (1978: 84) recorded one specimen from Wadi-Sohoul, Yemen, 2100 m a.s.l. According to Basilewsky's map (1978: 78) this wadi is located south of Yarim, a town in southwestern Yemen. Basilewsky's note represents the first and still the only record of Afrotropical Craspedophorus species outside the African continent. Yet it is not the first species with such distribution, and this record only supports a different concept of Afrotropical region than that presented in Palearctic Catalogue ( Baehr 2003b, Häckel 2017). The Palearctic catalogue includes the southern portion of the Arabian peninsula in the region, whereas other publications include at least Yemen and Oman either in the Afrotropical region or in a transitional zone between the Palearctic, Afrotropical and Oriental regions (Häckel 2012: 58).

Distribution. Eritrea, Ethiopia: Oromiya, S.N.N.P.R., Tigray; Kenya: Coast Province; Yemen.

Figures

PLATE 15. Habitus of Craspedophorus brevicollis group. (Scale bar: 10 mm). 119 a. C. brevicollis brevicollis (Dejean, 1831): a) male, Senegal; b) male, Senegal (lectotype established by Chaudoir, 1861); 120. C. brevicollis brevicollis (Dejean, 1831), female, Kankan, Guinea; 121. C. brevicollis brevicollis (Dejean, 1831) trans ad C. brevicollis beninensis new subspecies: a) male, northern Benin, b) female, Burkina Faso; 122. C. brevicollis beninensis new subspecies, male, southern Benin; 123. C. latifrons (Chaudoir, 1876): a) male, “ Abyssinie, A. Raffray, Voy. 1881 ” (= Etiopia, MNHN), b) male, Boran Negele, Oromiya, Ethiopia; 124. C. latifrons (Chaudoir, 1876): a) female (Collectio Plason, MNHN), b) female, Moyale, Oromiya, Ethiopia; 125. C. abnormis Bates, 1886, HT (male); 126. C. abnormis Bates, 1886, female, Shurugwi District, Midlands, Zimbabwe (labeled by Péringuey as Eudema sexmaculatum Péringuey, 1898); 127. C. abnormis Bates, 1886, male, Iringa, Tanzania; 128. C. abnormis Bates, 1886, female, Mbeya, Tanzania.

PLATE 16. Craspedophorus brevicollis group, aedeagus in frontal and right lateral views: 129. C. brevicollis brevicollis (Dejean, 1831), Senegal; 130. C. brevicollis brevicollis (Dejean, 1831) trans ad C. b. beninensis new subspecies, Sina-Issire, northern Benin; 131. C. abnormis Bates, 1886, Iringa, Tanzania; 132. C. latifrons (Chaudoir, 1876), Boran Negele, Oromiya, Ethiopia.