Brachinus philippinensis Tian & Deuve

Tian, Mingyi & Deuve, Thierry, 2007, Review of four species of the genus Brachinus Weber (Coleoptera: Caraboidea: Brachinidae) from the Philippines, Zootaxa 1546, pp. 15-22 : 18

Brachinus philippinensis Tian & Deuve , new species

( Figs. 2 , 6 )

Holotype. Female, labeled “ Philippines, Ch. Semper, Tuga, 21/30. 4. 62”, “Museum Paris, 1953, Coll. R. Oberthür”, from Tawi-Tawi Island, southwest Philippines, deposited in MNHN.

Diagnosis: Large sized, rust brown, legs with femur (except apex) darker, mouthparts with palpi slender, mentum without pit, but deep furrows, labial palpiger bisetose; head as wide as pronotum; lateral margin of pronotum deeply sinuate before hind angle, hind angle acute, proepisternum faintly visible from above; elytra indistinctly carinate.

Length: 16.0 mm; width: 6.5 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 2 .

Rust brown, but frontal impressions, antennomeres 5–11, legs with femur (except apex), coxae, trochanters, and gula yellow, mouthparts palpi, apex of femur, antennomeres 1–4, elytral epipleuron and ventral surface light brown, lateral sides of abdominal ventrites II–VI and whole ventrites VII dark brown; head with a pair of large and yellow spots between eyes.

Head longer than wide (HL/HW=1.12), labrum slightly rounded at front margin, sexsetose, clypeus with shorter additional setae; mandibular scrobe with several setae on upper margin, glabrous on median portion; eyes small, frons and vertex convex, frontal impressions deep and wide, convergent backwards; with several setae along sides of eyes, neck well marked, with coarse transversal wrinkles, glabrous on frons and vertex; ligula broad, pubescent at apex, adnated to paraglossae posteriorly; palpi pubescent, maxillary palpomere 4 slightly dilated, labial palpomere 3 strongly dilated; labial palpomere 2 bisetose; mentum without tooth, with two deep furrows at base, and several setae on median portion, two setae on either side, submentum with a row of long setae; labial palpiger bisetose. Antennae extending to middle of elytra, pubescent from apex of antennomere 2, antennomere 3 longer than antennomeres 1 and 2 combined, antennomere 1 with several long setae.

Pronotum ( Fig. 6 ) wider than long (PW/PL=1.13), widest at about one-sixth from apex, lateral margin deeply sinuate near hind angle, with a pair of lateral setae; basal transverse impression distinct; surface rather glabrous, distinctly wrinkled and punctured at base, median line clear; proepisternum slightly tumescent and faintly visible from above.

Elytra elongate-ovate (EL/EW=1.48), convex, without basal border, sides broad, not paralleled each other, widest at one-third from apex, shoulders slightly prominent, apex truncate, membrane narrow, with fringe of short setae and few sparsely long setae; depressions flat, wide, pubescent (indistinct on median portion), costae slightly convex, but not carinate, glabrous.

Fore tibia with subapical spur externally located. Meso- and meta-sterna glabrous, abdominal ventrites densely setose and punctate. Proepisternum glabrous, slightly tumescent, faintly visible from above.

Microsculpture meshes densely isodiametric on head, pronotum and elytra.

Male: Unknown.

Remarks: This new species is similar to Chinese species B. chinensis Chaudoir , but elytral costae not evidently carinate, pronotum deeply sinuated near hind angle, proepisternum slightly tumescent and visible from above, and median portion of elytra without pubescence.

Etymology: The specific epithet, philippinensis , is an adjective derived from the type locality of this species, the Philippines.

Distribution: The Philippines (Tawi-Tawi Island).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Habiti of Brachinus ssp. from the Philippines. 1. B. solidipalpis n. sp., paratype, male, 2. B. philippinensis n. sp., holotype, female, 3. B. piceus Chaudior, holotype, male, 4. B. luzonicus Chaudoir, female. Scale bar: 5.0 mm.

FIGURES 5 – 8. Pronota and aedeagi of Brachinus ssp. from the Philippines. 5, 9 – 10. B. solidipalpis n. sp., holotype, 6. B. philippinensis n. sp., holotype, 7, 11 – 12. B. piceus Chaudior, holotype, 8, 13 – 14. B. luzonicus Chaudoir. Scale bar: 5.0 mm for 8, 10.0 mm for others.