Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni Kleine

Bartolozzi, Luca & Loudit, Sandrine Mariella Bayendi, 2011, Revision of the genus Myrmecobrenthus Kleine with a description of a new species from Gabon (Coleoptera: Brentidae: Eremoxenini), Zootaxa 3101, pp. 53-58 : 54

Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni Kleine

( Figs. 1–2 , 5–6, 9 )

Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni Kleine, 1920: 27

The holotype of this species was destroyed in the Second World War, during the bombing of the German city of Hamburg. Basilewsky (1956) designated a neotype, which is preserved at MRAC and which we have been able to examine. In the original description Kleine (1920) described the species based on a single male specimen from South Cameroon; the neotype was designated as a male specimen from Yangambi (ex Belgian Congo, now Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni was known from Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (ex Zaire), Ghana, and the Ivory Coast ( Sforzi & Bartolozzi 2004). Thanks to the entomological expeditions of Mr. Susuni, we have been able to examine two specimens from Gabon ( Figs 1–2 ) which represent a new record for the country. The label data are: 1 3, Makokou/Ipassa, II.2011, A. Susini legit ( MZUF, collection number 15686) and 1 Ƥ, Parc de l’Ivindo, V.2009, A. Susini legit ( MZUF, collection number 15687). Other examined material: 1 3, 1 Ƥ, Ivory Coast, Lamto (Toumadi), II.1968, C. Girard legit ( MZUF, collection number 15688); 1 Ƥ, Ghana, Hohee, III.1986, K. Werner legit ( MZUF, collection number 15689).

The female has never been figured before; it differs from the male by the tubular shape of the prorostrum ( Figs. 6, 9 ).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. 1 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, male from Gabon, dorsal view (total length 9.7 mm); 2 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, female from Gabon, dorsal view (total length 10.9 mm); 3 — Myrmecobrenthus ater, male from Ivory Coast, dorsal view (total length 10.0 mm) (photo by Stéphane Hanot, MRAC); 4 — Myrmecobrenthus susinii n. sp. male holotype, dorsal view (total length 6.8 mm).

FIGURES 5 – 9. 5 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, male head and rostrum, lateral view; 6 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, female head and rostrum, lateral view; 7 — Myrmecobrenthus ater, holotype, male head and rostrum, lateral view; 8 — Myrmecobrenthus susinii n. sp. male head and rostrum, lateral view; 9 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, female head and rostrum, dorsal view (scale bar 2 mm).