Brachycyphon marginipennis ( Boheman, 1851 ) Boheman, 1851

Ruta, Rafał & Libonatti, María Laura, 2016, Redescriptions of Scirtidae (Coleoptera: Scirtoidea) described by Carl Henrik Boheman (1796 – 1868) with notes on Scirtes adustus diversenotatus Pic, 1930, Zootaxa 4072 (2), pp. 203-216 : 204-206

Brachycyphon marginipennis ( Boheman, 1851) comb. nov.

( Figs 1 A–C, 2, 3, 4)

Elodes marginipennis Boheman, 1851: 426 (terra typica: Natal; see notes under “Distribution”) Cyphon marginipennis: Pic 1914 (catalogue)

Contacyphon marginipennis: Zwick et al. 2013 (catalogue)

Type material (3 specimens, NHRS). Lectotype (present designation), male. “Caffra \ ria.”; “J. Wahlb”; “NHRS-VKBS \ 000000419”. Genitalia on a separate pin: “ marginipennis \ Paratypus Boh.” [handwritten by Nyholm]; “Naturhistoriska riksmuseet \ ( NRS) Stockholm \ coll. Tord Nyholm ( NYHS) \ See slide prep # 905”; “NHRS-VKBS \ 000000419”. Paralectotype (present designation), male. “Caffra \ ria.”; “J. Wahlb”; “ Type ”; “ Typus ” [red label]; “NHRS-VKBS \ 000000418”. Abdomen was placed separately, glued on a cardboard and pinned with labels: “ marginipennis \ Typus Boh” [handwritten by Nyholm]; “NHRS-VKBS \ 000000418”. Paralectotype (present designation), female. “Caffra \ ria.”; “J. Wahlb”; “marginip. ♀ \ allotyp \ prep... [illegible]” [handwritten by Nyholm]; “NHRS-VKBS \ 000000417”.

Redescription. Lectotype, male. Body broadly oval, flattened, densely covered with brownish, semierect setae. Head brownish black, pronotum yellowish, elytra brown with yellowish suture, antennae light brown, legs yellowish-brown, ventrum dark brown.

Head small, moderately convex, covered with granulate punctures which are separated by ca. 1.0 – 1.5 diameter; clypeus short, small, transverse. Eyes moderately big, protuberant, HW/IS 1.6. Antennae filiform, scape large, subcylindrical, antennomere 2 subglobular, antennomere 3 short and narrow. Pronotum short and transverse, widest at posterior angles, depressed, covered with large and small granulate punctures; antero-lateral angles rounded, not projecting anteriorly; postero-lateral angles rectangular; posterior margin bisinuate; PW/PL 2.4. Scutellar shield covered with fine, granulate punctures, equilateral-triangular. Elytra oblong-oval, relatively wide, sides rounded, a bit explanate in anterior half, punctures granulate, very dense, fusing into transverse lines, distinctly stronger than on head and pronotum, separated by ca. 0.3 – 0.5 diameter; humeri elevated; EL/EW 1.3; EL/PL 4.4; EW/PW 1.4; TL/EW 1.6.

Penis symmetrical, large (L 0.72 mm, W 0.23 mm), parameroids long, with subparallel sides, trigonium widely subrectangular in basal portion, narrow and bifid in apical portion; tegmen (L 0.54 mm, W 0.08 mm) long, Yshaped, parameres pointed at apices; sternite 8 small (L 0.15 mm, W 0.23 mm), widely U-shaped; sternite 9 large (L 0.57 mm, W 0.31 mm) and modified, consisting of a Y-shaped sclerite and a pair of lateral sclerites with serrate margins; tergite 8 (L 0.38 mm, W 0.39 mm) with trapezoidal apical plate and row of setae on apical margin, apodemes relatively short; tergite 9 (L 0.37 mm, W 0.20 mm) with very long apodemes and small apical plate.

Female. TL 2.9 mm, body more slender than in male, TL/EW 1.7, uniformly testaceous, covered with yellowish-brown setae. Tergite 8 long (L 1.22 mm), with paired apodemes; sternite 8 slightly shorter (L 0.87 mm), with paired apodemes which are connected in front, apical part with membranous structures along apodemes; ovipositor long (L 1.63 mm), with membranous coxites; prehensor oval (L 0.34 mm, W 0.4 mm), with long spines on lateral and apical margins, apical portion deeply emarginated, central portion with small, triangular sclerite.

Measurements. Male, n = 1. TL 2.9 mm, PL 0.55 mm, PW 1.3 mm, EL 2.4 mm, EW 1.8 mm. Female, n = 1. TL 2.9 mm, PL 0.55 mm, PW 1.2 mm, EL 2.4 mm, EW 1.7 mm.

Distribution. Described from Caffraria (also known as Cafrerie or Kaffraria), a name used for an “extensive area of eastern southern Africa” ( Londt 2012), located by some authors in the present East Cape province ( Ferrer 1995). According to Ripley & Dana (1859), Caffraria was a vast area extending between Great Fish River on the south and Delagoa Bay (present Maputo Bay in Mozambique) on the north, including a large portion of today’s KwaZulu-Natal province. In the second half of the 19th century the name Caffraria was restricted to a smaller area between Great Kei River and Umzimkulu. Boheman himself described the species as occurring in “terra Natalensi” ( Boheman 1851), which suggests that the actual collecting area was located closer to the city of Durban. This seems to be confirmed by the detailed data on Wahlberg’s excursions ( Brinck 1955).

Remarks. All three specimens deposited in NHRS with original locality labels are treated here as belonging to the type series. One of the male specimens, marked with a red “ type ” label, is designated here as the lectotype in order to preserve the stability of nomenclature by selecting one specimen as the sole, name-bearing type of the taxon.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Labels of type specimens. A) Brachycyphon marginipennis, male, lectotype; B) Brachycyphon marginipennis, male, paralectotype; C) Brachycyphon marginipennis, female, paralectotype; D) Contacyphon caffer, holotype; E) Scirtes adustus, male, lectotype; F) Scirtes adustus, female, paralectotype.